Playing with Fire
by Prieda Solo
Summary: Life is hard for a rebel looking for something to proove. Follows the story of Pyro in the brotherhood, starting at the end of X2 and continuing out beyond X3. Includes Toad, Sabretooth, Gambit Remy LeBeau , and pretty much all of the X-men. NOW FINISHED
1. God Among Insects

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Notes: This is pretty much an AU, designed so that I can play around with the interactions between Toad, Sabretooth and Pyro (no slashing whatsoever. that's just…eeeew). In this universe, Toad and Sabretooth managed to survive the Liberty Island attack and spent all of X2 recovering from it. Also I've called Pyro St. John Allerdyce, because St. John is his original comic name and is way cooler than John.

St. John is pronounced 'sinjun', for those not in the know. He does a little swearing, but non gratuitous, and really nothing too bad (no f or s)

Chapter one-God Among Insects

Anger fuelled him for the first half of the journey. Anger, hate and self-righteous indignation. Hating them for leaving him behind, hating Bobby for being a stuck up prick, and hating the world generally because he was alone, and in the snow, and nobody seemed to care.

He felt he was the only one with no one to care for him. Cyclops, Storm, Dr Grey, they all worked as a team. Even Logan was part of it. Bobby had Rogue, and a family…except Bobby didn't have a family anymore. He sniggered at that, feeling glad, in a way, that it was mostly his fault. He'd flamed the Drake household, and now poor Bobby had no home to go to.

Poor Bobby, all alone in the world, oh it must be hard. Must be hard for the poor boy with no family. Never mind the kid who never had one, nobody cares about him.

He stumbled and fell, snow scattering in front of him. There was the sound of a helicopter behind him and at first he thought that Drake had finally got his nerve up and decided to move. And of course Bobby and Rogue would fly in to save the day, and everyone would forget about him, all alone, stumbling along in the snow.

He would show them. Someday, somehow, he'd do…something. Something _damn_ good! Something to show them all. The rage burned in his chest.

It wasn't the jet. It was another plane. A white plane. He stared up at it, trying to think who it could belong to. That other old guy maybe? What had they called him, Magneto? He remembered the man talking to him, a God among insects, the promise of power that had seemed to linger in his eyes.

The plane was descending. St. John thought briefly about turning to run, but then remembered the mans words again. A God among insects. Why should he run? He had fire, he was powerful. The thought that the occupant of the plane might have a gun never occurred to him.

He flicked the lighter open and grabbed a handful of fire. Whoever it was would get a nasty surprise if they tried to attack him. They'd learn soon enough not to mess with mutants.

'Mr Allerdyce?' He gasped in shock as the door opened and Magneto stepped out. 'Are you going somewhere?'

St. John stared, then swallowed nervously 'Weren't you meant to be with the others.' Behind Magneto, he could see Mystique sitting in the cockpit. He tried not to stare at her body too obviously.

Magneto raised an eyebrow 'We found we had no need of them.'

'I don't need them either.' The words sounded wrong as soon as they left his mouth, too much like whining. He didn't want to appear childish, not in front of Magneto, and definatly not in front of _her._

A thin smile appeared on the elder mans lips. 'Perhaps you would care to join us? We are always on the lookout for those who will be truly dedicated to our cause. Those with great powers, those who can fight for us, and for what they know is right.'

St. John felt something surge up in his chest. A wild untamed thing, that wanted to fight, that wanted to prove himself. Great powers!

'I'd rather join you than stay here with them.' He tried to look determined, 'Mutants are worth more than people ever will be. Humans have no right to fight against us.'

Magneto's mouth twitched slightly, and his eyes flickered over to Mystique who was smirking. She caught his gaze and shrugged one shoulder. He'd do.

'Well what are you waiting for?' With a swirl of his cloak, Magneto was back in the jet. And St. John, unable to believe his luck, stumbled after him.

The rage and anger were gone now, and all that was left was excitement. He stared down at the snow beneath the helicopter, and felt a rush of exhilaration. This was more interesting than sitting around in a jet, waiting for Cyclops do decide when he was ready to fight. He was ready now, he knew it, and Magneto knew to. Magneto recognised him for his true powers.

He glanced at Mystique, sitting at the controls, silently piloting the plane. He didn't know what to think of her really. On the one hand, she scared him half to death, with her shape changing powers and fighting ability. On the other hand…

His eyes roamed over the curves of her body. His gaze sneaked up to her eyes and he blushed when he realised she was looking straight at him. Her eyes were cold. She gave him a stare that made him gulp, then turned back to the controls, not sparing him a second look.

'Where are we going?' he asked, to break the rather uneasy silence.

'Back to base.' Mystique answered, although she ignored him in every other way.

'Will it just be us there, or are there some other mutants on you-on our side?' He wasn't to sure which possibility scared him most.

Magneto smiled. Professor X's smiles had been comforting, they let you into a world where somehow everything was right. When Magneto smiled it was as if he'd thought of a joke at your expense and was waiting to see when you'd catch on. It made St. John feel defensive, like he had to prove himself. He bet Magneto never smiled that way at Mystique, she always seemed to be let in on the joke.

'You're not the only one, don't worry.' Mystique again. Why wouldn't she even look at him when she spoke to him?

The excitement was gone now, and instead he began to feel a little scared. He began to flip the lighter in his pocket, out of sheer habit. He'd survived on his own before now, he'd survive again.

And he wasn't alone. He had Magneto with him. Mystique. His true family. But somehow, as the plane descended on a large concrete strip near a deserted warehouse, he thought that he'd never felt more alone in his life.

* * *

Poor St. John. Got no idea. But he'll learn. ;p It was kind of fun writing hopeless rebel dialogue.

Hmm. Some of Magneto's dialogue is a little sloppy. And I'm not altogether happy with Mystique. And it's quite short, but the next one will be longer. This is my second long fic, and unlike 'Junior' I have no idea where this is going. However I will update reasonably regularly and I have plenty of ideas.

I am not American. I have never been to America. So I apologise in advance for any glaringly obvious cultural errors I might have made. Do point them out if you see any.

Every time you read without reviewing, Marvel kills a superhero…


	2. Internal Fire

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Notes: Updated because Toad's dialogue was crap. Also cleaned up a bit :)

Chapter Two-Internal Fire

They entered the warehouse. Magneto was leading, with Mystique by his side and St. John followed, trying to slow down the pounding of his heart. Magneto hadn't even checked to see if he'd followed just left the plane with a swirl of his cloak. Of course that was good in a way, showed he was trusted, but still…

Magneto flung the metal door open and strode inside, closing it with a crash behind them. The interior of the warehouse was dark and gloomy, Pyro thought he heard a slithering noise somewhere in the darkness.

He wondered how long they would be staying here. He was glad to be away from the school; they'd treated him like a kid back there, but at the same time he couldn't help but think slightly wistfully of the dormitories, with their large comfy beds. He wondered what would happen to all his stuff, would Drake end up with it? Or would they burn it. He had nothing in the world now except his lighter.

And that's how it should be. He pushed aside the weak, worried portion of his mind, inwardly sneering at it. He was Pyro, the man, the mutant and the fire. He didn't _need_ anything else.

'You're back?'

Far above their heads, a bulb flickered into light, as a figure appeared through a door on their left. 'Magneto?'

'We're leaving.' Magneto's voice sounded harsh in the still air. St. John felt himself shiver slightly. It was cold, after all, he'd been walking through snow, and the plane hadn't been heated. Perfectly natural to shiver.

The man came closer and St. John noticed his skin looked slightly translucent. It was faintly green as well. 'Why do we have to leave?'

'Get Sabretooth.' Magneto turned around and disappeared through another door, 'We're going in ten minutes.'

'Sabre!' The man shouted back over his shoulder. Pyro tried to remember where he'd heard the name before, hadn't Wolverine mentioned it at one point? They'd fought Sabretooth before which meant he was one of th-, one of us.

'Who're you then?' The man was talking to him. 'I didn't know Magneto was bringing back a kid.'

'St. John Allerdyce.' He muttered, feeling suddenly self-conscious. A feeling which was not helped as Sabretooth appeared in the doorframe, shaking water out of his shaggy hair.

'Sin-jun Allar-dice.' The man mimicked his voice and sniggered. 'What sort of name is that?'

St. John blushed and looked down. Behind him Mystique raised an eyebrow and mouthed 'Mortimer Toynbee.' Toad grinned.

'Well I'm Toad. And Sabretooth's the great hairy thing over there.' He sneered slightly at the boy 'Haven't you got a proper name?'

The embarrassment was leaving now, and the anger was flaming back. The desire to show them, to prove himself, to use the power because he could, because no one could stop him. He reached inside his jacket and flicked the lighter open.

Toad shrugged and turned around, but before he could tell Sabretooth about the change of plan, a red hot fall of fire streaked past his left ear. He stared, open-mouthed, as it hit the wall opposite, spreading out in a rose of deep white heat. Sabretooth had thrown himself to the floor.

Then there was silence, apart from the slight plinking sound of cooling metal. Toad turned, mouth still hanging, to see the young God, standing before him, eyes alight, fire trickling slowly between his fingers.

'My name is Pyro.'

* * *

Akk, another short one. The next will be longer, promise. That just seemed such a great place to stop it.

The title is not a mistake. It is meant to say internal (rather than eternal.)

Please review. Reviewing will increase the sum total of happiness in the world by a small but significant amount. And constructive crit is always welcomed, I write to get better at writing.


	3. Playing with the Big Boys

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel comics and the directors and producers of the X-men movies. No copyright infringement is intended and I make no money from this.

Chapter Three-Playing with the Big Boys.

Pyro shivered, shifting slightly on the sofa in a desperate attempt to get warm. The side of his body was hurting like hell and he was sure there was a bruise forming on his hip.

He winced as the hard boards beneath the sofa dug into him. This day was just getting worse and worse. He had no idea where they were, or what they were doing, and worse of all, _worse_ of all, his lighter was gone.

They'd dumped the helicopter in a forest several miles away and walked the intervening distance. Magneto and Mystique had strode on ahead, leaving him and the two…others to follow.

'So you fought the Wolverine then?' He'd asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood. Sabretooth had turned and smiled at him, that is to say he'd opened his mouth and shown all his teeth, before growling and turning away.

'On Liberty Isle?' He could at least try to make conversation. Inside his jacket pocket his hand was clenched tight around the lighter.

'Sabre got a thrashing off the Wolverine.' Toad had supplied, slightly backing away from the Sabretooth as he did so, 'I fought the weather-bitch.'

'Yeah.' Pyro had turned towards him, grateful for the conversational support. 'Rogue was there.'

'But you were not.' Magneto's voice held a slight warning. Toad sniggered and Pyro, face burning, kept quiet for the remainder of journey.

They'd reached the house just as it started to get dark, although calling it a house seemed overly optimistic. One bathroom, two bedrooms, moldy furniture and a sink piled high with dirty, broken dishes. Only one of the bulbs worked, in the upstairs landing, and only two chairs were still in working order.

The fridge, as least, was full. Magneto had seemed fairly satisfied at that. Mystique had looked a little annoyed, 'Can't he even keep the place _clean_?'

'We won't be here long.' Magneto had sounded amused. She'd shot him a slightly exasperated glare before heading up to the bedroom. He'd looked around at the dirty kitchen and followed, nodding at them as he went out.

'We're only here for a few days, make yourselves comfortable.'

'There's only one other bed.' Toad had shouted after him.

On further inspection it was revealed to have two mattresses. They hauled one off, it landed with a dull thump on the floor, and Sabretooth bared his teeth briefly before collapsing onto the bed and pulling the covers over him. Somewhere deep in the mattress, several springs gave up with pathetic little 'sproing' sounds.

Toad and Pyro looked at each other. Toad said 'Sofa's downstairs.'

Pyro pulled out the lighter, feeling a slight thrill. This was it, he might be the newest member of the Brotherhood, but he would not be the lowest. 'I'll take the mattress.'

There was silence for a little as they stared at each other, then Toad's long tongue shot out and the snatched the lighter from Pyro's hand.

'Hey, give that back!'

He stepped forwards angrily, the man didn't look particularly strong, but before he could move much further Toad stepped forwards and knocked his feet from under him. He landed on the floor with a dull thud.

He pulled himself into a sitting position 'Give it back.'

Toad crouched down beside him. 'Looks like you've got a lot to learn kid.'

He swung a fist at that stupid grinning face. The older man dodged it and backhanded him lazily 'I may take orders from Sabre occasionally but I'm not taking them from you.'

'I'll tell Magneto.' He muttered.

Toad threw the lighter into the air and caught it before rolling over onto the mattress 'Tell away.'

So here he was. Lying on a hard board covered with a small piece of cloth, no lighter, no food. Hell, his side was killing him. What if he'd done some real damage? What if he'd cracked a rib and was slowly internally bleeding to death? What if he caught hypothermia?

He wondered if he'd be dead next morning, Magneto would come in and see him lying there, and perhaps Mystique would cry and then Magneto would yell at Toad and maybe get Sabretooth to gut him. That would be nice.

Or would they even care? In all probability he'd just be dumped in the kitchen with the dirty dishes. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold ran through him. Was there anyone who would give a damn if he died?

He curled his legs up, trying to cover himself with the jacket. It was a good job he was strong, he consoled himself, Bobby wouldn't have lasted _five minutes_.

* * *

He might have dozed at some point during the night. If so, he didn't remember it. When the dawn chorus started he gave up on sleep and rolled off the sofa, his body feeling like one big bruise. He staggered into the kitchen and wrenched the fridge open.

Milk. There was milk. That would do for now. All the cups were dirty so he drank straight from the carton, still searching in the fridge for anything else. There were eggs, but he'd have to cook them. No matches in sight and the Toad still had his lighter.

Sabretooth was next down, Pyro moved back to the lounge when he entered, keeping well away. Sabretooth ignored him, as did the others as one by one they made their way downstairs.

He glared at Toad, who gave him a quick grin before wandering into the kitchen and coming back with a tub of ice-cream. Pyro had to shudder at that. Ice-cream, for breakfast? In _this_ weather?

But now Magneto was here and, feeling rather childish for doing so Pyro said 'Umm, Sir, Magneto, do you have any matches?'

'Matches?'

'I wanted some breakfast and Toad stole my lighter.'

It was almost worth it for the expression on Toad's face. He looked up from his breakfast like a guilty child as Magneto waved his hand and the lighter flew out of his jacket pocket.

There was silence for a little then Magneto nodded at Sabretooth. A fist flew out and suddenly Toad was sprawling on the floor, the ice-cream spreading over the side of his jacket and staining the floor. Mystique winced.

He should've felt glad. He should've felt the thrill of revengeful pleasure, but instead he only felt horribly guilty as he stared down at the ice-cream stain on the floor. Toad had his arms thrown protectively over his head and Magneto was speaking.

'Without the lighter Pyro is helpless. What if there had been an attack last night?'

Helpless. Without the lighter Pyro is helpless. He stared at the floor.

'There's a basement downstairs you can use to practice in. We might be here for some time, but when we have to fight, I want you to be able to.'

_Might_ be here for some time? Did anyone know what was going on?

Mystique spoke up, 'Do you know if there's a computer anywhere in this…house?'

He nodded curtly, 'There's one in the attic.'

They left. Pyro flicked the lighter a few times out of nervousness, but stopped when Sabretooth glared at him. Toad picked himself off the floor and scooped out what remained of the ice-cream with his tongue.

'Basement?' Asked Sabretooth.

Toad nodded. They both shot a quick glance at Pyro, who shrugged. He felt safe holding the lighter (although he was pretty sure it would need at least three firebombs to stop Sabretooth if he got angry). And he'd always managed the danger-room alright.

The thought of the danger-room made him think longingly of home. Of his dormitory, the meals, the practice sessions with Bobby, Rogue and Kitty. Practice sessions where it didn't really matter who won or lost (but obviously he had to defeat Bobby…), practice sessions where you weren't actively trying to kill people.

He pulled himself together. Where was the challenge it that? The danger room always turned into a showcase anyway, with Drake trying to show-off and Kitty trying to flaunt her hair at everyone. Storm would drone on and on about teamwork and cooperation not realizing that her team was not a team at all but a group of teenage kids either flirting or fighting with each other. Sometimes both.

The basement was pretty gloomy. There was a large rope hanging from the ceiling and a seedy looking mat on the floor, but otherwise it didn't seem to be equipped for combat training. Pyro pulled out his lighter and got out a red-hot ball of flame, spinning it in his palm. He was set now, no matter what they threw at him.

'Ready?' Sabretooth grunted. He nodded and the bigger man launched himself at Toad who spun, ducking and dodging, to the far side of the room. Pyro watched them, fascinated. This was combat as he'd never seen it before, more like a dance than anything else, sparring and blocking, Toad's limbs moving in a blur.

And suddenly his tongue shot out, knocking Pyro off his feet. He dropped the lighter, which went spinning off into a corner, and the fire flew into the air and exploded, showering him with sparks. He heard someone snigger, probably Toad.

Sabretooth's arm was flying towards him and he ducked, one thought in his mind _get the lighter_. Without the lighter, Pyro is helpless.

Toad got there first, grabbing the lighter and throwing it up into the air. Pyro stared at it stupidly before running to catch it. Sabretooth stuck out a foot and he was sprawling on the floor, Toad waving the lighter in front of his face.

'Come and get it fire-boy.'

He pulled himself up and lunged, Toad danced backwards then fell, cursing, as Sabretooth appeared behind him, grabbed the lighter and whapped him round the head.

Pyro gulped. He was lost now. Lost and helpless until something happened to end this training session. Toad was standing again, looking angry. Pyro wondered just how badly they'd be allowed to hurt him.

_Click_

Sabretooth, allowing curiosity to get the better of him, had flicked open the lighter. It was all the opening he needed. In a split second the fire was racing round the room, Sabretooth flung himself to the floor, Toad jumped up into the rafters, while Pyro laughed, shooting the fire closer and closer and reveling in the glory of his element.

* * *

Meh, this isn't very good. I'm not happy with Magneto at all. Sabretooth's a bit iffy too. Pyro's fun to write though. He's so…teenager. : ) And I'm getting the hang of Toad. Slowly.


	4. Devil Among Gods

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel comics and the directors and producers of the X-men movies. No copyright infringement is intended and I make no money from this.

Devil Among Gods

Magneto was angry about something. Pyro looked up from his dinner (baked beans again, they were one of the few things he could cook) as the floor shuddered and shook. Toad, more adapted to such conditions, huddled in his jacket and continued scooping ice-cream out of the tub with his long tongue.

'What's going on?' Pyro asked.

Toad shrugged. 'Whatever it is, it's got him pretty angry.'

'Are we gonna get to fight then?'

Another shrug 'Maybe.'

What the hell was going on? A door slammed above him and then Magneto came sweeping down the stairs, closely followed by Mystique. Pyro grabbed his lighter and followed them, stopping only when Magneto turned to face him just in front of the door.

'Where are you going?' Pyro asked desperately.

'We need to clarify some details with our friends in the government.' Magneto sounded merely impatient, but Pyro could see that inwardly he was fuming.

'Can't I come?' He pleaded as Mystique turned into a smart blond business woman beside him.

'Don't worry Pyro.' Magneto waved his hand at a nearby car, which unlocked itself. 'Your time will come. If the rumour is true maybe sooner than expected.'

'What rumour, _what's happening_?' The last two words were shouted into the retreating car dust as the two of them drove off.

He wondered back into the house disconsolately. Toad looked up again as he entered and grinned, 'Got left behind fire-boy?'

He moodily kicked at the door-frame. 'Doesn't this house have a T.V or anything?'

'Nope. There's always workout in the basement.'

'That's pointless.' He flicked the lighter and pulled out a thread of fire. It _was_ pointless. With the lighter he was unbeatable, without it, useless.

'Suit yourself.' Toad ambled back into the kitchen. 'We're running out of ice-cream.'

Pyro flopped down on the sofa. It wasn't that he was regretting his choice, hell no. He'd rather be here than stuck back in the Mansion learning physics. It was just…well, he'd expected the life of an evil mutant rebel to be slightly more _exciting_. More fighting, more secret undercover missions and less sitting around in a house that resembled a dump, waiting for Magneto to reveal what was going on.

'Whose house is this anyway?' He yelled into the kitchen.

'Dunno. Some friend of Magneto's.'

Well, that was a lot of help. He thought briefly about going down to the basement and chucking some fire around just for the heck of it before remembering that Sabretooth was there.

He sighed and poked some of the beans around moodily with a fork. They were cold. He pulled out his lighter and shot flames at them until they caught fire, leaving a black encrusted mark on the plate. That made him feel better. Slightly.

Toad reappeared, carrying another tub. Pyro was suddenly struck by an idea. 'Do you reckon we could go up to where the computer was and see what Magneto found out?'

The other man looked worried. 'Could be a bit dangerous. If he finds out…'

'He won't be back for ages.'

Toad pulled a face 'So far as you know.'

'It'd be more interesting than just sitting around waiting for him to come back.

Boredom won over eventually and the two of them crept up the stairs, still bickering.'

'What if Sabretooth gets fed up of working out and decided to find out where we are?'

'What'll he do?'

'He'll pull your head off, that's what. Mine too maybe.'

'It won't take long. All we've got to do is look at the … um history bar or something. Glance through the files'

'Mystique protects her work better than that!'

Pyro switched the computer on, while Toad stared worriedly at the screen. 'You're gonna get me into trouble.'

'Right. Now, what's going on?'

Toads hands flickered over the keyboard and mouse. Clicking, frowning, pulling up windows and closing them before Pyro even had a chance to see what they were. Toad seemed to know what he was doing though, so Pyro was content to wait.

He stared out of the small attic window. All he could see was a small patch of road that ran along the back of the house. There were more houses beyond it, and in on of the gardens he could just make out a woman hanging some washing out to dry.

'FDA?' Toad said, and Pyro turned back to the computer which was showing complicated lines of text and numbers.

'What?' he asked.

'They're trying to hack into the records of the FDA.' Toad scrolled down the page. 'Think they managed it too.'

'And what...' Pyro started but jumped as a noise came from downstairs.

Toad went pale. It had been the unmistakable sound of the front door slamming.

'Sabretooth?' Pyro whispered. He didn't dare to move.

Toad shook his head 'Can't hear the footsteps.'

They froze for a moment, then Toad started desperately shutting down the windows on the screen, shoving Pyro towards the door as he did so. 'Don't let him come up here! Say Sabre's locked in the basement or something, but don't let him come up here till I'm out.'

Pyro raced down the stairs, heart hammering, and wrenched open the door to the lounge. 'Magneto, Sir, Sabr …'

He stopped. There was a man in the lounge, but it wasn't Magneto. He was taller for a start, and younger, with dark brown hair that flopped into a fringe over his face. He was wearing a pale tan trench coat and was holding one of the empty ice cream cartons looking angry. He turned quickly as Pyro entered.

Pyro gaped. There was silence for a moment as his thoughts seemed to dissolve inside his brain. All he could think was: His eyes, holy hell look at his _eyes._

'What you doin' here?'

'Umm.' Pyro swallowed. 'Are you Mystique?'

There was another silence. The other man looked puzzled. Feeling slightly bolder Pyro drew out his lighter. 'Get out.'

The man gave him a long appraising stare. Pyro wasn't quite sure what happened next, but the next thing he knew a large flaming ice-cream tub was flying towards him. He gave a yell and threw himself to the floor, then there was the sound of an explosion and something hit the side of his head. Something else grabbed the front of his shirt and the next thing he knew his back was smashed into the side of a wall and two pitch black eyes with red irises were staring into his, while a voice hissed in his ear. 'Let's try dat again, mon ami, what you doin' in Gambit's house?'

'Wha…' was all he could manage. The side of his head was hurting and even though he tried to keep his eyes fixed on the man in front of him he couldn't help but notice the large hole in the side of the wall where the ice-cream carton had gone.

'One las' chance.' A fist raised itself menacingly beside his head.

'Hey!' Sabretooth. Pyro had never thought of Sabretooth as a saviour before, but as he came running out of the basement Pyro couldn't ever recall being more glad to see anyone. Gambit swore under his breath, whapped Pyro round the head and dropped him. As he slid down the wall, just before his senses gave in entirely, Pyro thought he saw the man turn and pull out what looked like a playing card from his belt.

* * *

He came too on the sofa, feeling as if the world around him had been painted over in cotton wool. Mystique and Magneto were back, sitting at the table in the middle of a discussion. Mystique spared him a quick glance when she saw he was awake before turning back to the conversation.

The new man, Gambit, was leaning against the door post. The other two were nowhere to be seen. Pyro wondered vaguely, through the cotton-wool haze, whether Toad had made it out on time.

Magneto noticed Mystique's glance and turned to look at him. 'Recovered?'

'I think so.' He felt slightly nauseous and his voice seemed to be coming from a long way away. He remembered slightly too late that he didn't want to seem weak in front of Magneto 'Yes, I'm fine.'

'Good. Gambit says he didn't mean to hit you quite that hard.'

'Sure.' Pyro shot a wary look at the man leaning against the door. He grinned, but it seemed to be more of a warning than an apology. Inwardly Pyro groaned, just when he'd been starting to get some status someone had to come along to upset the balance.

'Is he one of us?' He asked, realising it was a stupid question as soon as it left his mouth.

The new man shrugged. 'Gambit one of hisself.'

'Ah.' Pyro sat up, his legs feeling wobbly and almost missed Magneto saying 'You cannot support them Remy, not over this.'

'Gambit don' support anyone.'

'They are trying to exterminate us.'

'Mais, it voluntary, non?'

'Now it is. But it will not be long before they start using it against us. They have in their power a weapon to defeat mutant kind once and for all. How long before they start using it?'

Pyro froze. He wasn't sure whether Magneto would like him to hear this conversation. His eyes flickered sideways and he noticed there was a large sheet of corrugated iron over the hole in the side of the wall.

'Dey get rid of us? Jus fo who we are?'

Magneto's face was taut and lined 'It's been done before.'

'Erik.' Mystique nodded to where Pyro was sitting on the sofa, still looking dazed. Magneto turned, frowning slightly.

'Do you know what we're talking about Pyro?'

He shook his head.

'They've made a cure for mutants.' His voice was harsh and angry. 'A cure!'

'They gonna try and get rid of us?' Toad appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Pyro wondered how long he'd been listening. He didn't seem to be injured in any way, so he'd probably managed to get off the computer in time.

'The news has not yet been officially announced.' Mystique took over. 'And so far the working documents state it will be voluntary only.'

'But how long before they start using it as a weapon?' Magneto finished.

A cure? Pyro tried to imagine it. 'But if it's voluntary, why would anyone take it?' He couldn't imagine voluntarily deciding to give up so much power. To have such a large part of who he was taken away from him would be unthinkable.

'Some people will want it.' Mystique said, 'People cowardly enough to care what others think. People who allow their mutations to make their lives miserable.' She shot a glance at Toad.

Toad kept silent. Right now, he'd choose his mutation over anything else the world had to offer, but he wasn't sure if ten years ago his thoughts would have been the same.

Pyro suddenly thought of Rogue. Bobby would want her to take it wouldn't he? Would she want to take it? A death touch was a huge amount of power but, he smirked, it did severely reduce your ability to screw your boyfriend.

'What are we going to do?' He asked.

Magneto raised his eyebrows 'Fight it. We may be fighting for the very existence of the mutant community.'

Pyro waited for the rush of joy, he would be fighting at last! But instead he just felt panicked and slightly sick. His head was still hurting. He tried to force himself to smile.

'Remy.' Magneto turned abruptly. 'We need you with us.'

The man shrugged. 'What's in it fo me? Don even know if you telling de truth'

'What if we get proof.' Mystique shot back.

He shrugged 'Gambit t'ink about it maybe.'

'Where would they keep the records?' Magneto asked. Pyro felt his head begin to spin, he'd never have dared speak to Magneto like that. Gambit was even rude to Mystique, and, amazingly, she hadn't tried to pull his head off with her feet.

It was as if this newcomer wasn't even part of their carefully ordered hierarchy, but a separate force unto himself. If they were Gods among insects, then this strange enigmatic man was a Devil amongst the Gods. Powerful, deadly, and not part of the overall chain of command but something separate and distinct from it.

Mystique thought for a moment. 'They'll have some records at the FDA. I could sneak in there tomorrow, they shouldn't be too hard to find.'

'And if there's proof?' Magneto asked Gambit again.

'Maybe.' He levered himself off the door post and headed upstairs. The footsteps disappeared into one of the rooms and there was a brief cry of 'Mais, what you done to my _bed_!'

Magneto looked at Mystique and raised an eyebrow. She nodded 'He'll do it.'

'He better.'

'I'll leave tomorrow morning. Once we have the records it'll be a lot easier.'

* * *

Notes: The plot, she is moving!

I've decided to restrict myself to one A/N per chapter, that way you don't get fed up with all my little scribbles. One question I really need answered: am I right in thinking that FDA stands for Federal Defence Agency?

So, how was Gambit? I have been google-ing and wikipedia-ing for information on Cajun accents and Gambit quotes, so hopefully it came out sounding reasonably realistic. If you spot any errors, tell me and I'll try to get it right next chapter.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. You guys review far, far more often than the Harry Potter fanfic readers, so all give yourselves a cookie!

For those of you who have only seen the movies and thus know nothing of the wonder that is Remy LeBeau (Gambit): He is strong, hot and Cajun (from New Orleans). He was an orphan who was adopted by a relatively rich and kind mafia-esque family and became a high-level thief. His power is that he can charge moving objects with kinetic energy (in clear violation of the laws of thermodynamics in case you were interested) and he mostly does this with playing cards. His loyalty swings, mostly he's good but for the purpose of this fic he's sort of freelance, which isn't too OOC I hope. He has romance with various people (but not in this fic!) mostly a sort of love/hate relationship with Rogue.


	5. Smoke Without Fire

Disclaimer: These characters are the property of Marvel comics and whoever made, produced, and bought the rights to the X3 film. I still make no money (just encase you thought, y'know, that I'd suddenly started earning a packet for this story) and no copyright infringement is intended.

Smoke Without Fire

That was the problem with fire, he decided, sending a large fireball in the general direction of Sabretooth. You couldn't use it to give someone a friendly warning in the same way, say, knocking them round the head did. You had to either incinerate people or deliberately miss.

Another problem, of course, was that without a source of fire he was a sitting target. And the basement was made of damp corrugated iron which meant his firebombs didn't last long. He needed his lighter, and both Sabretooth and Toad knew he did.

_Thwap_

Had he been more alert he would have noticed in time and moved, but Gambit had reclaimed his bed forcing him and Toad to sleep on the floor. The floor was, if possible, even less comfortable than the sofa, and he'd spent a sleepless night trickling fire through his fingers and listening to Toad shivering in the dark. Running on minimal sleep he could only watch dully as the lighter was thrown out of his hand by the blow and skittered away across the floor.

He ran desperately towards it, tripped, and threw his arms over his head ready for the pounding that would inevitably occur.

But it didn't. Instead, there were twin explosions on either side of him and a howl from Sabretooth. He looked up to see Gambit framed in the doorway, a playing card resting idly between his fingers. Sabretooth was clutching his arm and Toad, always alert to extra trouble, had jumped up into the iron bars that crossed the ceiling.

Gambit looked around, nodded, then turned on his heel and strode off. Pyro grabbed his lighter and followed, not sure whether he wanted to thank the man or whether he was just looking for an excuse to leave the training session.

Gambit was in the kitchen, apparently searching for something behind the oven. Pyro approached timidly, feeling that thanks was probably expected, "Um, Mr Gambit, Sir?"

There was a loud clang and a stream of curses drifted up, only half of which Pyro recognised. Gambit reappeared, his hair now wildly thrown over his face, holding what looked like a short plastic tube. He threw it at Pyro who fumbled but mercifully managed to catch it. "Press dat."

He pressed the end. A brief flame appeared. He did so again and this time grabbed the flame and turned it into a fireball which sped around the room before earthing itself in the sink which was half full of dirty water. "What is this?" he asked.

Gambit shrugged, "Use it to ligh' de cooker.'

"Thanks. I've, um, already got a lighter though."

"Dis way." Gambit strode out and up to the bedroom. Pyro followed and stood, feeling slightly nervous, as the Cajun pulled open cupboards, throwing out clothes at random. Finally he came upon a black shirt which he held up against himself critically (it was far too small) before ripping it up into long thin strips.

"Here." Gambit grabbed Pyro's arm and tired the firelighter to it with strips of cloth until it was held firmly in place. The black strips were wound around his wrist and below his knuckles, making a cross over the palm where the tip of the firelighter (or the flamethrower as he preferred to think of it) was held.

Pyro stepped back and experimentally moved his hand around. The fingers flexed, but the wrist was a little stiff. Using his middle finger he pressed the tip, shooting flames into his palm.

Gambit eyed him critically "Don go wit your shirt."

Pyro looked down. The black cloth at his wrist did look a little strange next to his faded blue T-shirt.

Gambit delved back into the draws, pulled out a black shirt and threw it at him, closely followed by a dark brown jacket. Pyro shook his head slightly in amazement "Where did you get all this stuff from. Most of it looks quite cool." Not to mention expensive.

"My firs' girlfrien' say to me: Remy-you can be hot as you want, but wit out style your not'ing." He pointed at the flamethrower at Pyro's wrist. "Now maybe you won figh' so bad. No need for thank yous." He left.

Pyro took of his shirt and quickly pulled on the black one. It had a high neck, and sleeves which covered his wrist so only the strip beneath his knuckles was seen. Struck by a sudden impulse he grabbed some more of the cloth strips and wound them around his other hand, following the same pattern.

He grabbed the jacket and, curious, made his way into the bathroom to look in the mirror.

What he saw took his breath away.

He looked _cool_.

Ha! Beat that Drake!

The fit wasn't perfect, the shirt bagged a little where Gambit's toned muscles bulged and the overall look didn't quite fit in with his faded jeans and scuffed trainers. But nevertheless there was no getting over the fact that he looked a lot older and a lot more menacing.

He ran some water and had a go at doing something with his hair. Something wild, something untameable, something fiery. He looked quizzically at his reflection for a while before deciding eventually to leave it; it looked quite good as it was.

He ran down the stairs two at a time, trying to prevent the wild gloating laugh inside him from spilling out. He came to an abrupt halt at the bottom as he saw Magneto appear round the corner.

"Ah, Pyro." The old man looked at his curiously, "You've…changed."

Pyro held up his hand, gathering fire in his palm. "I got fed up of loosing my lighter."

Magneto nodded, smiling slightly. His expression seemed to be that of someone who has just discovered that a favourite pet, favoured but not necessarily useful, is capable of singing the Russian national anthem. "It suits you."

Pyro nodded, trying not to ruin his new hairstyle.

"Have you seen Mystique?" Magneto asked.

Pyro shook his head and turned to look at the clock. It was two in the afternoon.

"She said it would only take a few hours." Magneto sounded bored rather than worried, but his hands were balled into fists under his cloak.

Pyro felt the excitement drain out of him, to be replaced by a cold fear. Mystique had left early that morning. "Maybe she's had a bit of trouble?"

* * *

It was the stuff of nightmares. They all sat in the kitchen, waiting, staring at the clock as it endlessly circled its way through the afternoon. Magneto sat at the head of the table, with Pyro and Sabretooth on either side and Toad at the foot. Gambit lounged in his customary position against the doorframe.

Sabretooth was the first to ask what they were all thinking. "How long do we wait?"

Magneto's voice was steely, "Until she comes back."

Gambit shifted restlessly, "Maybe she not comin' back."

"Oh she will." Pyro thought he saw a muscle twitch in Magneto's left cheek, "She will not fail me."

Gambit shrugged, "Ma frien', sometimes you got to face de facts."

Magneto said nothing. And suddenly Pyro began to feel scared. If Mystique was down, what chance did he have, new image or not?

* * *

I think it is only right that I should apologise for this quite short, rather badly written and slightly pointless chapter. I've also let Gambit's accent go to pot a little because there are some words that I don't have the Cajun equivalent for on my little page of Gambit quotes.

Other than that, please keep reviewing, it does encourage me to write more. You guys review very promptly, which gives me a big enough ego-boost to get through the next chapter. You may be pleased to know that so far there is no conceivable end to this story, it's heading out to X3 and beyond.

The title is not gratuitously cheesy, it is symbolic.


	6. First Blood

Disclaimer: The X-men and associated figures are the property of Marvel Comics, and of the producers and directors of the X-men films. No copyright infringement is intended. I make no money from this story.

First Blood

He'd looked them over, marshalling his forces, reviewing his troops. He'd thought for a minute, then said "Pyro, you will come with me."

Pyro had felt proud at the time, until he'd realized that Toad and Sabretooth had failed Magneto once before, and Gambit couldn't really be trusted. Still, it was something to know that he was the one chosen to fill the space Mystique had left.

They went in the helicopter, and it wasn't until they were well above the houses that Pyro dared to ask "Um, Magneto, Sir, where are we going?"

It took a lot of nerve just to say that. In the week since Mystique's disappearance, Magneto had become withdrawn, spending large amounts of time in the little attic, coming down only for meals. He'd hardly spoken to anyone, even Gambit had kept away from him.

"You don't have to call me Sir."

"Where are we going?"

Magneto sighed. "Have you been keeping up with the news?"

Pyro nodded. "They've released the cure."

"And the response?"

"Some mutants have taken it." Pyro tried to feel disgusted and angry, but instead he just felt tense and nervous. Would the cure really be used as a weapon? Would they end up fighting for their lives?

"And others?" Magneto headed downwards, towards a large empty car park next to what looked like a deserted church.

Pyro shrugged, unsure of what to say. He'd glanced at the newspapers, (mainly the cartoons) when Gambit brought them, but hadn't really taken a great interest. It was all politics nowadays, which according to Gambit was all about power.

"It's about freedom." Toad had insisted, stabbing his finger down onto the newssheet, on one of the many repeats of the word.

"Cher, you really t'ink that? Money and Power, dats all. Fin' de money, you fin' de reason."

Pyro tried to remember what had been in the news. "Nobody else is doing much at all. There are…protests." He realised how weak that sounded.

"They must fight. We will have to at some point." Magneto skilfully landed the helicopter in the parking lot. "Stay by me."

Pyro nodded, trying to look cool, organised and prepared, the way Mystique always did. He wasn't St John anymore, he was Pyro, and Pyro was…

Was what? A pawn of Magneto's? Was Pyro any different to St John?

_Fwosh_

The fire curled around his palm making him feel slightly better. Pyro had fire, which made all the difference. Pyro was strong.

Magneto glanced back at him. "Put that away."

The fire disappeared. Feeling slightly sulky, Pyro followed him into the old building.

He blinked at the sudden darkness, squinting while his eyes adjusted to the dim light. There was a large crowd, mainly seated, listening to man speaking at the front, Pyro could hear his voice echoing around the empty space.

"It's all about taking our concerns to the right people."

_The right people…the right people…right people…people…_

The listening crowd mumbled a bit. Pyro glanced at Magneto and suddenly realised what he was going to do. Magneto's power was manipulating metal, but long experience had taught him to manipulate people as well.

Pyro felt a thrill of excitement; Magneto was going to turn them into an army!

And then Magneto was moving forward, with Pyro right behind him. They were up on the stage now, and Magneto gave Pyro a curt nod. Pyro let the flames dance in his palm, smiling slightly at the shocked expression on the face of the man in front of them.

Oh yes, this is real mutant power. This isn't the ability to scream loudly, or make flowers grow, this is power and danger. What's your mutant power, the ability to talk about sending deputations to the government while keeping a straight face?

Magneto held the stage now, and Pyro felt the huge overwhelming wave of ego-filled delirium which comes from standing in front of a large crowd hanging onto your every word. Or Magneto's every word, which as far as Pyro was concerned was the same thing.

Sidekick was fine, he could cope with being a sidekick. Anything was better than being an ignored underling.

Magneto would win this petty war of minds and hearts, he knew that. 'Death or Glory' is a far better slogan than 'Let's all talk sensibly until we come to a conclusion.'

Then Magneto stalked out, and Pyro followed, trying to walk the walk as much as possible, even though he didn't have a cloak.

"If you're so proud to be a mutant, where's your mark?"

Callisto brought him up short. Magneto narrowed his eyes and thrust his arm forward showing the tattooed number he'd carried in his arm for his entire life. Pyro hovered near the background, letting his eyes wander over the band of mutants in front of him.

Callisto was a good looking girl, if it hadn't been for the fact that she was a little…scary. Not really scary, because Pyro wasn't afraid of anything, but definitely intimidating. Something about the piercing as well, he didn't like girls with too many piercings. He liked her shape though; he let his eyes travel down her curves, smirking at the cut of her clothes that showed him so much so well.

Next to her was Arclight. Pyro looked at Arclight with some bafflement before eventually giving a verdict of probably female. If only because he felt strongly in his heart that no man would ever, ever choose to wear a hairstyle like that.

"I'm Spike." Pyro managed not to jump at the sudden interruption.

"Pyro." He said, pulling the flames out, and grinned. No worries about attack from that source, Mr Porcupine might be dangerous at close quarters but from a distance fire would win every time.

"You can sense Mutants?" Pyro looked back at Callisto who was still talking with Magneto. She was laying it on fairly thick as well, with the pouty-smiling and the long dark eyelashes. Pyro wondered if a girl would ever look at him like that.

He'd never really had a girlfriend before, although he'd stared hopefully at a few. There was Bobby's girl, Rogue, but he hadn't really fancied her. She'd just been another field of battle for him and Drake, the scene for another proxy war. He glanced at Callisto hopefully. Maybe it was time to try his luck. After all, it didn't have to be permanent, from what he could gather Gambit had been through a string of girlfriends, and even Toad had got laid once (although he wasn't sure he believed _that _story). He could live with the piercing.

"Could you find a particular mutant for me?" Magneto looked thoughtful. Pyro felt a little bit jealous. The only mutant Magneto could want to find was Mystique, and although he'd found it hard, Pyro wasn't sure if he wanted to loose his position as Magneto's second-in-command quite so soon.

* * *

They went back to collect the others first and then, a little pressed for space in the small helicopter, went in search of Mystique. A movable prison was a novel idea, but it seemed to Pyro that sending a horde of powerful mutants onto an empty road in a completely deserted part of the country guarded by only three police cars was not perhaps the most cunning of government plans.

They flew ahead of the van, and left the helicopter in a deserted clearing in the forest. That is to say, a quite normal part of the forest that had been flattened by a pulse of energy from Arclight.

Magneto strode out in front of the approaching van, and Pyro tried desperately to hide the inane smile that spread over his face. There was just something wonderful about watching Magneto deliver the smackdown, it lit up something wild within him.

_Crash._ One car down. Then another. Magneto ripped the door off the prison and, closely followed by Pyro (who was determined to hang onto his position as second-in-command for as long as physically possible), strode in. The guards were down, with a further flick of his wrist, Magneto opened the cell door in front of them and Mystique sauntered out.

"About time."

Until that moment, Pyro had never realised how much he'd missed her. There was something infinitely reassuring about Mystique, the way she seemed to move and act as if the world's problems belonged to other people. She would know what do to about the cure.

And until he saw them together again, Pyro had never realised how alone Magneto looked without the familiar blue figure beside him. He had asked Toad once, what had made Mystique join with Magneto, when she seemed to be far more powerful than him, far more powerful than all of them.

Toad had shrugged, "I asked her once. All she said was 'When I had nothing, Magneto showed me everything.'"

They'd left the other mutants back at the helicopter, but as Magneto and Mystique talked, Pyro saw Toad's head peeking around the door. He nodded at him and gestured to Mystique. Toad grinned and disappeared, probably to report the success to the others.

"Read off the guest list." Magneto sent the clipboard spinning into his hands. That buoyed him up, Mystique might be back, but he, Pyro, was still just as important.

He flipped over the first sheet of paper with the guards names on it "Cell four one two oh five." He read out, "James Madrickson."

As multiple-man stepped out of his cell, Pyro could not help but feel a little worried. How powerful was fire, after all? It had its limits; he was no use as a spy, or in any subtle plan. What if one of these captured mutants turned out to be better than him, and took his place in the brotherhood?

He thought ruefully of the last week in Gambit's dirty, messed-up house. Just him, Toad, Sabretooth and Gambit. After the initial vying for status they'd got on quite well, but he had a feeling that now everything was going to change.

He flipped over the clipboard to the next record feeling even worse. His voice seemed to be coming from a long way away as he read the next entry out "If he builds any momentum no object can stop him."

No object; did that include fire? Would whatever was in this cell be impervious to any damage at all? It was with a slight sense of trepidation that he watched Magneto pull away the metal clasps that imprisoned the man.

He hoped there would be no more time for practising in the basement. The Juggernaut would tear him to pieces.

Pyro stared at the figure in front of him trying not to show the fear he felt. He was Magneto's third in command, might as well show that. "Nice helmet."

The man turned to stare at him "Keeps my face pretty."

Magneto smiled and started speaking but then "No!" and Mystique was moving rapidly, fear showing in her eyes.

It all seemed to happen so quickly, one minute Mystique was moving quickly behind him, the next she was crumpling, falling towards the floor with a small cry.

A gun flew into Magneto's hand, Pyro turned and saw one of the guards, fighting to get up. He didn't waste a minute, without even waiting for Magneto's command he sent a bold of fire hurtling through the air, flinging the guard out of the van and adding the smell of burning cloth and flesh to the rather close smell of the van's interior.

They turned to look at Mystique. She was gasping and writhing in agony. Had it been a bullet? Bullets didn't do that to people did they?

Under their shocked gaze she changed, the familiar blue drifted away, from her back, her face and finally, her hands. She lay before them, naked and vulnerable.

She had to be acting, this couldn't be real. She'd change back soon, she must. Pyro could see Juggernaut eyeing Mystique's body appreciatively and he wanted to smash the man's face out. This wasn't funny, it wasn't even vaguely attractive; it was terrible and somehow pathetic. Mystique, once so powerful, was now so helpless

"You saved my life." Magneto said, but his words seemed to be automatic, expected. His mind seemed far away, maybe back in that long, lonely week.

Then he turned away, but Pyro didn't notice, he was still staring down at her body. He'd felt like this only once before, when his mother, so strong looking after him and his sisters, had died. He'd hated her then, hated her for being weak, for succumbing to the illness and leaving him at the mercy of his father. He felt no hatred for Mystique, but no pity either, only a numbing sense of disbelief.

"Erik." And as she whispered it he did begin to hate her. She had no right to sound so weak, no right to have failed this way. He wanted her to turn back, to pretend it had all been a joke. To get up, to laugh, to prove that the cure didn't work.

"I'm sorry my dear, you're not one of us any more."

He stared at Magneto, feeling another support drop away from his world. Surely not, surely he wasn't…

He was. And Pyro left with him, because there was nothing else for him to do. Through the mind numbing cloud of disbelief that filled his mind he thought he heard Magneto say "It's a shame, she was so beautiful."

* * *

"Where's Mystique?" Toad was the first to speak when they returned. Magneto ignored him, and turned to Castillo, looking around at the new members of the brotherhood.

"Where is she?" Toad rounded on Pyro, "Was she there."

"Quiet!" Magneto's voice cut through the idle chatter. "Mystique is…no longer with us."

Toad gaped. Gambit frowned.

"The have put the cure into guns." The lines on Magneto's face seemed to have etched even harder. "Mystique was shot."

"She's alive?" Toad asked. Pyro winced as Magneto's arm flew out and a nearby piece of wreckage from the trucks smashed into the side of Toad's head, dropping him to the floor.

"Mystique is no longer a mutant, she is not one of us."

"You left her?" Magneto turned, but Gambit was harder to intimidate than Toad. He nodded curtly, and then turned away. "We're staying here tonight."

"Don't see what all the fuss is about." Juggernaut grunted, "She wasn't that much use any way."

In the silence that followed there was the small but audible sound of a playing card being pulled out of a belt. Pyro swallowed nervously as Gambit approached the larger man. He'd read Juggernaut's records, and the last thing his aching, disorientated mind wanted was to watch Gambit ground into the dust. He quietly pulled a small thread of fire into his fingers. At the very least, setting Juggernaut's head on fire would distract him for long enough to let Gambit get away.

There was a short pause. Juggernaut scowled, slightly confused at being challenged by a man holding nothing but the ace of spades. In a swift movement, Gambit spat at his feet and strode off. Toad gave a small whimper then, clutching the side of his head, followed him.

Pyro looked after them longingly.

"Anyone else?" Magneto's face was suffused with rage. He glared at Sabretooth.

Sabretooth growled uneasily.

"Are you joining them?"

Sabretooth glanced Juggernaut briefly, then shook his head.

"Pyro?"

"I'm with you." It felt good to say that, it left right to say it. But somehow deep inside, Pyro couldn't help but mourn Mystique and the lost members of the brotherhood.

This is what war is, he told himself. You're part of a fighting force now, one of many. And the second-in-command post is vacant, you've got more brains than Juggernaut, and more power than Callisto, that place is yours!

It was a good thought. But somehow it brought no comfort.

* * *

Don't worry, they'll be back. They're my favourite characters so rest assured they will not be abandoned.

Re: Callisto. Pyro's a teenage boy. Yeah, he thinks like that. It's normal.

Wow, the response to this story is incredible; you guys are all such wonderful reviewers! So, if there's anything you'd like to read more of just say, and I'll try to fit it in around the plot (you know the sort of thing; Pyro fighting, Gambit kick-ass, Pyro getting whumped, badly made-up back story, Toady angst, anything. I tend not to like writing romance though)

Unfortunately, I have had a slight attack of real life. There are less that eight weeks until my exams start, and I still don't know any of my chemistry. However I promise faithfully to do everything within my power to deliver a new chapter every week.


	7. the Phoenix and the Cajun

Disclaimer: The characters (and a great deal of the plot) are the property of Marvel Comics and the directors and producers of the X-men film. I make no money from this, and no copyright infringement is intended.

And just a quick note before you read it. I've taken a few liberties with the canon, I wasn't going to, but after practically frame-by-frame-ing the scene in the prison, I didn't feel like doing the same with all the other canon moments. In my defence-it is AU :)

The Phoenix and the Cajun

The first time Toad had seen her, he'd been huddled in the corner of a street, crying, hurt and helpless. She'd approached him with calm strength, and wrapped her arms around him, protecting him from the harshness of the outside world.

Now, their positions were reversed. He knelt down beside her and took her shoulder gently. "Mystique?"

She shivered but didn't say anything. She hadn't been crying, but she hadn't moved either, Toad wondered if she'd been planing on lying here until she died.

He ran his hand down her arm, trying to warm it up, "Mystique? Are…are you alright?"

Her voice was soft, and slightly choked, "I'm human."

"Don't worry." Like Pyro, Toad could not fully believe that the strong capable Mystique had been reduced to this helpless woman, "It's alright."

He helped her sit up. Gambit approached and, pulling off his long trench-coat, wrapped in round her. "Dere you go, chere."

She pulled the cloak around her, looking dazed. "I'm human."

Gambit exchanged a helpless glance with Toad, before crouching down in front of her. Taking her shoulders, he gave them a slight shake. "C'mon, chere. You gotta get over it."

Mystique gave a small shudder. Then her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'll kill him."

"Kill who?" Toad asked nervously.

Gambit shook her again, "Non, you don know what you sayin'. Erik's confused right now, he don know what he sayin' either."

She stared at him. "What should I do?"

"Get outta here fo' starters."

She stood up and tied the trench coat around her waist. The last few minutes had shocked and scared her, shaking her out of the shell of protection she'd spent the last few years constructing for herself. She took a deep breath; she'd coped with worst betrayals before.

"Mais, he still care 'bout you, chere."

She turned to look at Gambit, "Remy, could you send a message to him?"

He smiled and nodded.

"What about Juggernaut?" Toad put in.

The Cajun shrugged, "Gambit go where he like."

* * *

Pyro mooched around at the edge of the camp, feeling alone and worried. The cold light of the morning had revealed that Sabretooth had left, vanished in the night. Pyro had never liked the man, hell he'd been scared stiff of him, but it meant that now, apart from Magneto, there were no familiar faces left.

He skirted around a tree stump, his mind far away. Beside him the leaves of a nearby bush rustled gently.

_Thwap_

He landed in the dirt, to hear a very familiar laugh (and suddenly a very welcome laugh) from above him.

"Gambit!"

"Miss me?"

Pyro stood up, brushing dead leaves off his jeans. "I thought you'd gone."

Gambit shrugged, "I come back. Magneto here?"

Pyro scowled and kicked out at a nearby tree, "He left about an hour ago. Took a load of the new mutants in the helicopter."

Gambit grinned "An' you got lef' behin'?"

"I'm looking after the camp! It's a very important job."

"Ma frien' you gotta learn somet'ing bout Magneto. He never do anyt'ing unless it useful fo' him. He use people." Gambit waved his hands around, trying to shape his thoughts. "I t'ink one day he had an idea abou' savin' mutants, maybe. A good idea, but now it all turned into what he want."

"Power." Pyro said dully, "Money and Power."

"Not money, maybe." Gambit sighed. "Gambit prefer it before. Jus' Cyclop, Storm and Jean 'gainst me Magneto an' Mystique. When dere wasn' so much worl' involved."

Pyro frowned. "Dr Grey said something like that once. It's because there's more mutants now."

"Dere's more everyt'ing now." Gambit shrugged and then ducked as the helicopter flew overhead, to land in the clearing. "Tell Magneto Remy's here wit a message."

Pyro nodded and ran back to the camp, his mind still whirling with what Gambit had told him. However all the thoughts were dashed from his head as Magneto descended from the helicopter, closely followed by Jean Grey.

Pyro felt his jaw drop. "Dr Grey?"

She ignored him and drifted off to the side slightly, eyes staring blankly into the middle-distance. The new mutants seemed to avoid her, all treated her with suspicion. Even Magneto seemed wary of her.

Pyro's first thought was: She's found out and we've had to surrender. The others will be here soon, the Professor, Storm, Cyk, and I'm gonna get in so much trouble…

But Dr Grey had changed. Her hair was different, and so were her eyes. She looked wild, angry and untameable, certainly nothing like the calm and collected teacher he'd known at school.

So his second thought was: Magneto's drugged her or something, and brought her back here to replace Mystique.

That really didn't sound feasible. He stared at her again. She didn't look drugged, just …different. Oh her outward appearance was similar enough, but it was as if another person had taken residence in her body, as if someone else was looking out through her eyes.

He shivered, and the part of him which wasn't trying to be cool and collected whimpered. She didn't look normal.

"This is the Phoenix." Magneto's voice cut through his confused and worried thoughts, "She will be joining us."

But she's one of them! Pyro almost screamed it out loud, and would have done were it not for the fact that the word 'Phoenix' stuck in his brain. Maybe this wasn't Dr Grey, perhaps she had a sister?

"Um, Magneto?" He said, remembering Gambit, "Gambit's come back."

"Has he." Magneto said softly, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"He's got a message for you." Pyro regained control of his confusion. "I think it's about Mystique."

Magneto nodded curtly and strode off; ignoring Callisto's confused "What do we do now." Pyro tried to follow, but was motioned away by a wave of his hand. He stared moodily at the ground for a while before Callisto turned to him and repeated the question.

"Pyro? What do we do."

He turned to stare at her. He should feel flattered that he was the one being turned to for advice, but instead he was to busy thinking of Gambit and worrying about Mystique. "I don't know, practise or something."

She stared at him, her lower lip pouted, " I can't practise on my own."

Pyro swalled feeling slightly nervous. Was she trying to hint something? Was that what girls did?

"You could help me." She smiled at him and raised an eyebrow. "If you want."

"Er." He paniked briefly, "Sure."

"We could practise in behind the bushes."

"Oh." He thought for a moment, then, with a fairly certain idea of the way this would go, smiled. "Sure."

"Pyro!" Magneto's came towards them, and Callisto flashed away from him (he suddenly realised how close she'd been). " Get everyone together, we're moving."

Multiple man frowned, "Where to."

Magneto turned to stare at him, "Oh _you're_ not going."

"I'm staying here alone?"

Magneto's smile had an edge, Pyro remembered Gambits words. "Don't worry, you won't be alone. There'll be...quite a lot of you."

* * *

They'd moved to another part of the forest, one quite close to the island of Alkatraz, where according to Magneto the cure was being designed. Pyro had asked why they were moving and recieved a curt "Because." in reply.

Jean Grey scared him. Sometimes he thought she even scared Magneto. Magneto had told the other mutants that she was fighting for them, that she was under control, but sometimes Pyro wondered whether Magneto held any control over her at all. She'd threatened him once, held up the cure right in front of him, and that had worried Pyro more than anything.

"Why do you trust her?" He'd asked Magneto afterwards, "She's one of them!"

"So were you, once." Magneto answered and Pyro almost burst at the sheer pressure of not shouting at him for the unfairness of the remark. Dr Grey had been one of the X-men, one of Xaviers fighters, while he'd just been a schoolchild, never a fighter. She had been one of the origonal X-men, dedicated to fighting against Magneto. And now she was even more powerful.

She was a danger to all of them. Safe enough now, while she wanted what Magneto did, but what if she decided to do something different. Could they stop her?

And he suddenly realised that Dr Grey was now the ultimate mutant. The X-men, the humans, none of them mattered any more. With her power she would automatically win, no matter who she was fighting against. She was like a force of nature, like the sea or the wind; changable unpredictable and dangerous.

"I've been with you since the beginning." He said angrily, and it was true, in a way. St John might have been at Xavier's school, but Pyro had always served Magneto. The only person he'd ever fought for was Magneto, the only true loyalty he'd ever felt was towards the brotherhood.

"You should've let me kill Xavier."

Magneto grabbed his shoulder, gripping it with a such force that Pyro barly managed to prevent himself crying out. " Charles Xavier did more for mutant rights that you will ever know. My only regret is that he had to die."

With that Magneto stalked off, leaving behind a very confused and rather sore Pyro. Wasn't Xavier meant to be the enemy?

* * *

Mystique stood infront of the police station, feeling nervous. Without her powers she was as good as helpless, if she hadn't known that Gambit was lounging against the lamp-post next to her and Toad was hiding behind the garbage bins down the ally, she would never have had the strength to go in.

She took a deep breath and turned to look at Gambit. He winked at her. "Good luck, cheri."

How did humans manage it? To live each day knowing that if anything happened, if any danger threatened, there was nothing you could do? She missed her mutant powers, they were so much a part of her that living without them made her feel as if she were walking around naked.

It was their fault, the humans. She'd spent every day since her twelfth birthday fighting against them. Parents, teachers, policemen, all the people that the young Raven Darkholme had been taught to respect, had tried to kill her, had marked her as different. From the day her powers had first started to show she'd been an outcast.

Magneto had been the only one to repect her for what she was. He'd admired her mutant powers! She remembered his arms around her, his voice whispering softly into her ear, "Mystique, you are magnificent, you are perfect."

It had been flattery, she knew that. He'd flattered her because he'd needed her, but she needed him as well. Under his guidence she'd changed from a hard and insecure girl into a confident and manipulative young woman. His rejection had hurt, even more than Azreal's rejection of her, because while Azreal had given her a child, Magneto had given her a life.

She entered the police station and smiled at the officer on duty. "Excuse me, I have news for you."

He turned and gave her a bored glance. She resisted the urge to twist his head off.

"What's happened then, cat got stuck up a tree?"

She glared at him, "I know where the mutants are hiding."

* * *

Akk, so sorry. This is a really short little chapter. The next one will be better, with much fighting and big explosions. It will also have a slightly less lame title.

Azreal is just this guy. He's not important. He's the father (with Mystique the mother) of Nightcrawler, who might make an appearance in this fic later on.

In case anyone was wondering about the title, there is an oldish english book called The Phoenix and the Carpet. It has nothing to do with mutants, mutation, prejudice or the letter X. But it does have a phoenix in it.


	8. Fire and Ice

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

I was gonna wait till the alerts came back but y'know what? I got fed up of waiting. So here it is-enjoy. I know nothing about the relative positions of Alcatraz and the Golden Bridge so sorry for any geography errors (I'm assuming they're reasonably close together?) And I have missed out loads of canon, but you all know what happens in X3 anyway and I want to move on :p

Fire and Ice

They're an army now, not a brotherhood. There are people fighting for them that Pyro hardly knows, some that he wouldn't even recognise in the street. When Magneto talks to them Pyro is standing behind him, looking at the crowd, and every time he sees a new face, a face he's never seen before.

Once he even thought he saw Wolverine. A hood pulled over a face that was a sharp jolt back to his school days. He turned nervously to see if Dr Grey was reacting, and when he looked back the Wolverine had gone.

It wasn't the brotherhood anymore, he could've fought next to any one of these people and not known their moves, their styles, when they would fight and when they'd give in. He was second-in-command, but only just; Arclight Callisto and Juggernaut were kept pretty close.

It actually reminded him a little of school. Except the Professor knew everyone and he doubted Magneto knew half of the mutants who claimed to be in his army.

They marched towards Alcatraz, and Pyro felt a slight worry gnawing in the pit of his stomach. Mystique had done her part, the government officials searching for them in the forest had found only Multiple Man, and now it was Magneto's turn to do his. Attack Alcatraz (although Pyro didn't know how) and destroy the source of the cure.

He suddenly wondered what had actually happened to Multiple Man. Presumably he'd gone to prison. He'd served his purpose and was no longer needed, after all, he wouldn't be much use in a fight.

"Ready?" Callisto smirked. She was starting to annoy him a bit, both by her constant attempts to replace Mystique and the fact that she only flirted with him when Magneto wasn't watching. He'd told Magneto about it, but he'd just found it amusing. Magneto might not want to acknowledge Mystique, but it was clear that no one was going to replace her.

He nodded at Callisto, trying to remind her that he was above her in the hierarchy of Magneto's followers. He missed Gambit; there was something about the Cajun's infectious excitement and ability to reduce anything to smouldering rubble that was comforting to have by you in a combat situation.

He even missed Toad a little, and Sabretooth. He knew how they fought, how they reacted. He might not trust them with his life, but he would trust them to protect him, which was more that he'd do for Callisto. She was more likely to stab him in the back to ensure her own promotion.

They reached the Golden Bridge, marching on as if they owned it, while around them cars swerved and people panicked. Pyro felt a huge rush of adrenaline fill him, the feeling of power, of status, of truly being a god among the frightened hurrying insects. Magneto raised his arms, flying high into the air on the iron soles of his shoes as Pyro realised with a sudden alarm and mounting excitement that this would be his first real battle, the first time he'd aimed to kill.

Well, not exactly the first time. He'd flamed the policemen at Drake's house.

Drake! He swallowed nervously. If the X-men came to try and stop them, would Bobby be there?

He pushed the nervousness aside. Let him come. Drake had beaten St John before, but this would be his first time facing Pyro. Practise with the flamethrower meant that he could now shoot flames with reasonable accuracy. During the long hours in the basement he'd worked out a fine control, speed, direction, intensity, he could manage the fire much better now than he ever could in the Danger Room. And at school he'd never really aimed to kill, it would have got him into far too much trouble with the Professor.

He hadn't been watching Magneto (in truth he'd been scanning the crowd to see if Gambit would disobey Magneto's instructions to look after Mystique and prepare an escape route, and decide to join in the fight) and so jumped almost a foot in the air when there was a large crunch in front of him, and the bridge started to rise. Behind him Callisto gave a nasty little laugh, but he ignored it and instead stared down beyond the bridge to look at the water below. Alcatraz was not so far out now, and getting closer.

Peering dimly at the island, he thought he could make out a frantic scurry of activity, people were running all over the place. It looked like an anthill, full of frantic activity. He wondered if there were soldiers waiting, and felt a momentary stab of fear before remembering that Magneto could easily destroy the guns.

The bridge landed and they strode off, Pyro pushed forwards easily, but Magneto held him back. "Wait, let the infantry go first."

There were soldiers and they did have guns, Magneto sneered and waved a hand dismissively.

Nothing happened.

Plastic guns. Pyro began to feel worried again. Magneto looked faintly surprised, and slightly amused.

"Forward!" The army advanced, jumping mutants, leaping mutants, striding mutants, running mutants, all shapes, sizes and colours. The soldiers were shooting back, and Pyro gulped as he saw the first mutant fall, keeling over sideways with a horrible scream as orange blood stained the earth.

Then the two forces met, and Pyro stared, amazed. He had never seen battle before, and he felt something red and fierce well up behind his eyes. Behind him, he heard Magneto turn to Juggernaut.

"Find the source and destroy it."

Juggernaut nodded, and pounded off, his feet shaking the earth and raising dust at every step.

Pyro kept an eye on the fighting. The guns were beginning to hold their own, it seemed the humans had finally learnt how to deal with mutants. Frustrated, Magneto turned to Arclight and shouted something that Pyro, caught up in the heat of the battle, didn't hear.

The effect was instantaneous. A large blast of energy shot out, flattening the soldiers who stood behind the ridge. Pyro gave an exultant laugh, the victor by association. Magneto nodded at Arclight, then motioned to Spike and Callisto. The three of them ran forward to join the battle.

There was just him, Magneto and Phoenix standing on the ridge now. Pyro tore his eyes away from the battle to look at Dr Grey. She was standing calmly off to the side, staring into the middle distance while behind her eyes flames were dancing. He shivered and looked away. She didn't seem normal.

"Why don't we get Dr Gr-Phoenix to flatten them?" He shouted over the crashes and screams of war.

Magneto raised an eyebrow, "She's our emergency weapon. Don't worry, you'll be fighting soon."

Which wasn't really the answer. But Pyro thought he knew why Magneto gave no orders to the woman. There was no guarantee she'd obey. She was wild, a loose canon, and when the metal hit the meat, there was no telling whose side she'd be on. Maybe her own.

It wasn't just that she was freelance like Gambit. Gambit could be at least relied upon to protect his friends, and himself. Dr Grey, the Phoenix, didn't seem to care about anyone or anything, and no one could stop her. If she decided simply to walk away in the middle of the battle, there would be nothing Magneto could do.

"Oh look. The X-men have decided to join the game." Pyro turned, and almost laughed at what he saw. There seemed to be only six of them, spread out in a thin line in front of the building. He squinted closer, three of them were his school friends! As he watched Kitty Pryde turned and ran, heading back to the safety of the building. He laughed again. Wolverine would be good in a fight, but Storm only had the weather on her side (how much harm could rain do?) and Colossus and Bobby had never even fought properly before. Not against people who were trying to kill them.

Magneto raised his arm and a car flew into the air. He turned and nodded at Pyro, who smiled a crazy smile and flicked the top of the firelighter.

_Fwomp_

The car caught fire, in a mad rush of flame that sent the adrenaline pounding through his body. This was his life, this was his element. His heart soared with the leaping flames, the sunspots danced in front of his vision.

The car landed with a crash that sent sparks flying. A small dull part of Pyro's conscience reflected that it had probably killed more of Magneto's own army than anything else, but the rest of his body was filled with a fierce, uncontrollable joy, and wasn't listening.

Another car went up, and the flames leapt again. Pyro wasn't even thinking by this time, he may have even been laughing madly as his fire dominated the arena. There were screams and yells from below, but he ignored them, he was the flames and the fire, he was the red hot screaming centre of pain.

A wild feral glow was shining in his eyes. Magneto saw it and smiled appreciatively.

Two cars at once, easy!

_Whoosh_

And then, through the fire, he saw Bobby standing with his usual expression of lost determination. He turned to Magneto, who nodded at him. "Off you go."

He walked out. He had no idea what was going on in the rest of the battlefield, although from what he could tell they seemed to be winning. The true winner, however, would be the one who got to the source of the cure first, although wiping out the X-men would be an added bonus.

He approached Drake. This was it, this is the final showdown. Ice and Fire, Good and Evil. He managed to keep his breathing steady, because while Pyro was mad to just flame the guy, St John was curled up in the back of his head whimpering _can't we just drop a car on him?_

They faced each other, Pyro tried to dreg back the remainder of the fighting-high and managed to smile in an evil sort of way. Bobby swallowed nervously, and Pyro suddenly felt incredibly glad that Drake seemed to be as nervous as he was.

Then, almost simultaneously (with Pyro mere seconds ahead) they attacked. It wasn't a fight, or a brawl, just a sheer test of strength, fire rushed forward to meet ice, where they stopped, locked in the combat equivalent of an arm wrestle.

Pyro gritted his teeth, nothing in his training had prepared him for this long test of stamina. The fire raced from his wrist, and he felt as if his were his own blood source flowing out into the battle, where it died against the cold unyielding ice.

More power! His muscles were screaming at him, his head was starting to ache, but slowly, amazingly, Drake was yielding. It seemed painfully slow to Pyro, as, with sweat running down his forehead, he pushed home the advantage, forcing Iceman to his knees.

And now the flames were consuming him, nothing could be seen of Bobby Drake except his bowed head and hands as he fought against the fire. Pyro was on the verge of collapse, he wouldn't last long now, why wouldn't Drake give in? The joy and excitement was leaving him, to be replaced by a sort of desperate fury. More to encourage himself than anything else, he laughed into the heart of the fire and manage to force the words past his lips, "Maybe you should go back to school!"

Surely Bobby would give soon, he must be down to his very last reserves of strength. Not slackening the fire for a minute, Pyro squinted into the orange flames. Bobby was there all right, but, something was changing…he was going…blue…

An icy hand reached up and grabbed his wrist, crushing the flamethrower, and freezing his hand. He bit his lip to stop himself crying out, as the Iceman rose from the dying furnace that held him. A cold impassive face stared into his.

And as the fist swung round, as time seemed to slow to the speed of treakle, Pyro suddenly realised that he could never defeat Bobby, that Magneto would never win. The Brotherhood might be evil, but it was a fickle changing evil, his evil, fires evil, dangerous when roused, but hopeless without a lighter.

Inside the X-men beat a heart of ice. Some would call it strength or courage, others might say duty or determination, but whatever it was, he knew it would never be destroyed; not by Magneto, not by the humans and certainly not by him.

Then the pain smashed into his jaw and for a moment he thought he might throw up at the sheer agony, before the merciful blackness took him. The last thing he remembered seeing was the Phoenix, standing on the ridge, a host of soldiers before her and fire dancing in her eyes.

* * *

_Some say the world will end in fire,  
Some say in ice.  
From what I've tasted of desire  
I hold with those who favour fire.  
But if it had to perish twice,  
I think I know enough of hate  
To say that for destruction ice  
Is also great  
And would suffice._

* * *

Amazing poem that is splendid in its awesomeness was written by Robert Frost, not me.

Pyro is not dead. I have only just the hang of his character, I'm not going to kill him off J

I was reasonably tempted to call this chapter The Iceman Cometh, but decided that was too silly. Besides Fire and Ice is one of those titles that everyone writes a story for at sometime in their lives (and for some reason a small but significant number of people tend to write about Ginny and Draco. No idea why.)


	9. Aftermath

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Quick note: For this fic Toad's name is Mortimer Toynbee. That's why Mystique occasionally calls him Mort. (and for those of you that missed it in the films Mystique is really Raven Darkholme)

Aftermath

The first thing that returned was the worry. The nagging feeling that something important had happened, something that he'd missed, something he should've done.

Sight was next, the blessed darkness behind his eyes, followed swiftly by sound, and then the pain kicked in.

He groaned as the memories came flooding back. They'd been fighting, and he'd…failed. Iceman had defeated him, the X-men had the source of the cure, and Magneto…

What had happened to Magneto?

And where was he?

He opened his eyes cautiously, the world span around him for a bit.

"Feelin' good, homme?"

Pyro gasped and tried to pull himself up. The image in front of him blurred as the side of his body erupted into pain and he gave a small cry before strong arms wrapped themselves around his body, supporting him.

"Don' try sittin up yet."

Carefully Gambit laid him back down. The pain diminished. "What happened?"

"He's up? Is he up?" Toad's head appeared around the doorframe. "Why didn't you say? Useless Cajun."

"He only jus' got up." Gambit complained, smiling. And Pyro almost cried with relief at the sight of them both. There was something about knowing that somewhere in the world were people who'd come back for you, people who cared.

He wondered vaguely what had happened to Bobby, whether he'd got out or not. A part of him hoped that he'd been crushed under a car somewhere, or run over by the Juggernaut.

"What happened?" He tried again.

Toad glanced at Gambit, "You were out cold. I managed to pull you out of the rubble before it all went crazy."

"You were there?"

"Course." Toad grinned at him, "You looked like you needed someone to look after you, and Gambit was a bit obvious. Besides, Mystique needed to know what was going on."

"What happened to Dr. Grey."

Toad shrugged, "The Wolverine killed her. He's mad that one."

"Wolverine," Pyro started at him, "But no, he loved her."

There was a slight movement from the door before Mystique slid in. She smirked, pulling her jumper around her shoulders, "Obviously not that much."

Pyro's bewildered brain tried to fit this information into what he remembered of the relationship between Logan and Dr Grey. "And what about Magneto?"

There was silence. Had Pyro been thinking properly he would have left it at that but the brain does not function well after being smashed against a block of ice, "Did Magneto get out?"

"I looked for him." Toad muttered, "Right until everything blew up. I did _try_."

"It wasn't your fault." Mystique said, but her words were harsh. She turned back to Pyro, "We don't know about Magneto."

* * *

The motorcycle shot down the road, whipping back the grass on the verge as it went. Its rider did not move, apart from to give a large wrench on the handlebars as a narrow bend appeared in the road ahead.

Unseen eyes watched it pass.

After a few minutes the motorbike stopped. The rider got off, and pulled off his helmet. Reaching deep into his pockets, he pulled out a large map, unfolded it mainly by shaking it, and stared at it, frowning in concentration.

In the distance a bird sang briefly. The wind rusted through the bushes at the side of the road. The man spread the map over the seat of the bike and ran his finger along it. Occasionally his lips moved.

The unseen eyes watched him for a moment, before heading back to the bend in the road.

A few minutes passed by. After a while the man swore under his breath, scrunched the map roughly into a ball and shoved it back into his pockets. Grabbing the motorbike, he hauled it around roughly and headed off back down the road he'd just come.

The change of direction had clearly angered him, for as he reached the bend in the road he put on a extra burst of speed and pulled the handlebars round viscously. Which meant that by the time he saw the fallen tree lying across the road it was too late to do anything about it.

The unseen observer watched as he flew through the air in a graceful arc, rolled down the side of the hill and landed awkwardly in a heap at the bottom. He gave a small chuckle then pulled himself out of the bushes, grabbed the tree and hauled up upright again.

Then he picked up the bike, kicked it a few times until it roared into life (almost taking his leg off) and shot off down the road.

* * *

It took Pyro a few days to recover, but being back in Gambit's dilapidated home, with no training sessions and no battles to be fought, was heaven. He spent most of his time lounging in front of the TV which Toad (with a rather shifty expression) claimed to have found in a dump somewhere.

It wasn't just his head that hurt, he'd landed on a piece of jutting metal as he'd fallen, which meant there was a large gash down the side of his leg which, according to Gambit, would form a scar that would have "de girls fallin' fo' you, homme." He soon learnt not to play the wounded soldier card though, Mystique insisted he still perform his share of work round the house.

Not that there was much work to be done. Cooking, washing up and the occasional half-hearted attempt at cleaning. Other than that he was quite happy just to sit staring at the screen, which proclaimed that mutants and humans were entering a new period of joyful union.

Today's news was no different. Pyro stared at the newsreader, trying to ignore the sounds of Toad eating ice-cream next to him.

"So that's it then." He said after a while, as the slurping continued beside him, "No more brotherhood, no more X-men."

"You really think this will last?" Mystique appeared from the kitchen.

Pyro shrugged, "Sure. Why not?"

"It's a honeymoon period." Mystique smirked, than whapped Toad over the head, "Mort, that's _disgusting_. Honeymoons never last."

"Really?" Pyro wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about that, so settled just for sounding confused.

"Of course not." Mystique stared at the screen, resting her hand on the back of the sofa. "All it takes is for something to go wrong, and then all the accusations will start again." She gave a slightly bitter smile, "That's how relationships work."

"Mystique?" Toad gulped.

"What?" She turned to look at him, irritated.

He swallowed nervously, "Um, your hand."

They stared down at it. Mystique gave a small cry. Slowly, hesitantly, the blue scaled flesh was creeping back over her fingers, starting from the tips and working upwards.

It lasted for about five minutes, during which they all sat, staring at the change, before the colour rushed from her hand, leaving the normal skin of Raven Darkholme.

"What was that?" Pyro said, as soon as his voice returned.

Mystique raised her hand and stared at it, turning it around in front of her eyes. "But…the cure."

"Huh!" Toad flopped back in front of the sofa. "Would you trust _humans _to get anything right?"

Mystique didn't answer, just continued staring at her hand. After a while she started to smile.

Pyro looked at her, confused, "What is it?"

"Look." She concentrated. Slowly, the tips of her fingers started to turn blue.

Pyro shrugged again, "So the cure didn't work?"

"No." The blue disappeared as she turned her attention to him, then back to the television, where the producer was happily informing people that any mutants who felt that their powers would cause a danger to the community were still able to take the cure if (and only if) they felt that they wanted to. It seemed not all the supplies had been kept in Alcatraz.

Mystique gave a short laugh, "Well, that'll mess things up. How long before the mutants start complaining about the so-called cure?"

Pyro grinned, "When they do, we'll be there."

* * *

Carmen Lucrere loaded the last of the dishes into the dishwasher and gave a small sigh. Thank goodness they'd all left, organising a party for twenty excitable seven years olds had been very tiring.

David had taken them out to the park, an hour of pushing each other off the swings should calm them down a bit, and when they got back she could sit them all in front of the TV for an hour or so before their parents arrived to pick them up.

It had been hard work, but worth it just to see the excitement on Tommy's face. After all, it wasn't every day your son turned seven.

She turned on the dishwasher then grabbed the Hoover, wiping her hands on her apron. The hallway was a mess, she could at least do her best to remove the cupcake stains from the carpet. She pushed open the kitchen door that lead into the hall, dragging the Hoover after her.

And froze. The door was wide open, hanging off its hinges. There were three large rents in the wallpaper, and standing in the hallway was a large, dirty man with (she stared, fascinated) long metal claws sticking out of his knuckles.

He was holding her phone.

She gave a small scream and cowered behind the Hoover.

He turned to look at her. She got the impression of a very short temper that had long ago passed breaking point. Slowly and deliberately, he punched the number and held the phone up to his ear, staring at her all the time.

"Lady. I need to use your phone."

Her mouth dropped.

He glanced back at the door, frowning slightly, "Sorry about the mess."

She gave a small nod and a whimper. She knew she should lock herself in the kitchen or call the police, but somehow she felt trapped under his stare like a rabbit in front of car headlights.

"Hello? Hank, is that you?" He kept his eyes on her as he spoke. "Yeah, what? No, I haven't found him yet. I'm not even at the lake yet. I lost the bike."

Carmen tried to speak, tried to tell him that her husband would be back, that she would call the police, that she would contact her lawyer, but the words dried in her throat.

"I don't know where the bike went. There was a tree in the road or something, one moment I'm driving along fine, the next I'm lying in a ditch somewhere."

The man's voice was getting louder, Carmen wondered if he was one of those dangerous mutants that had been in the news recently. She wondered how much damage hitting him over the head with a Hoover would do.

"Can't you send the jet? Why the hell not? Do you want me to _walk_ to Alkali lake? No I don't know…wait." He moved the phone away from his mouth, "Do you know where I am?"

Carmen tried to hold the Hoover in a threatening manner. It wobbled in her grasp.

He stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment, then grinned and slashed through the Hoover bag. Dust flew everywhere.

Carmen finally found her voice. She let out a piercing shriek, that brought the neighbours running to their windows.

He swore, dropped the phone, and ran out, vaulting over the fence at the end of the garden and escaping down the street.

Heart hammering madly she picked the phone up and held it to her ear.

"Logan? Logan? Are you there?"

She gave another scream and slammed the phone back down.

* * *

Yes, this is short. Sorry. I'm busy revising at the moment, so they might be shorter (it's either that or longer gaps between updates). However I have worked out what's going to happen next, woohoo!

Hope you don't mind Carmen. She's not coming back anyway. I wasn't going to name her, but them I had so much fun writing it I couldn't resist. :p


	10. Revolutions

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

For those who don't remember Azreal is a guy who hit it off with Mystique for long enough to make Nightcrawler.

Revolutions

It had been the same with Azreal. Beautiful phrases, flowery compliments, nights out on the town. For a week she had floated in heaven, for a week she had thought it would last for ever, the two of them, united no matter what.

Then the little things had started. Small nagging arguments. And even then she had dared to hope that perhaps it would all smooth over, perhaps they could still remain together, living with their differences.

It hadn't worked. She knew now it would never have worked. She stared at the television, sitting on the sofa between Pyro and Toad, hearing the little arguments start to form.

It wasn't much yet. An explosion somewhere, a mutant captured by the police for theft, a slight rumour that the cure might not be working. Humans and mutants were still in the honeymoon phase but Mystique knew from bitter experience that it wouldn't last.

Gambit strolled out of the kitchen with a beer bottle and leaned against the door frame. "Everyt'ing still OK?"

"No major problems so far." Toad glanced dismissively at the screen, before levering himself of the sofa and slouching into the kitchen. "Some people are complaining, sure, but so far mutants are still the governments golden boys."

"It won't last." Mystique repeated stubbornly. Holding her hand up she concentrated, spreading the blue over her fingers and the back of her hands. "I hope I'm ready by the time it breaks."

"Anything about Magneto or Sabretooth?" Toad asked, remerging with the inevitable ice-cream carton.

"Victor will be around somewhere." Mystique said, sighing as the blue faded away from her hand, "He can look after himself."

"Will he ever come back?" Pyro asked, rather hoping the answer would be no.

Mystique shrugged, "Someday, maybe."

* * *

The motorbike roared down the road, kicking up dust behind it. The helmet-less rider shook back his long shaggy hair and peered ahead. He was hot and tired, he'd had nothing to eat since he'd commandeered the motorbike from Wolverine the day before.

He stopped at the next town he reached, and headed towards the bar. Keeping his head down, he pulled some change out of his jacket and shoved it onto the counter, mumbling something as he did so. The barman didn't hear him, but he knew enough to recognise a man who simply wanted alcohol and pulled out a whiskey.

Sabretooth took the bottle and headed into a corner where he sat, nursing his drink and trying to marshal his thoughts into some sort of order. Magneto's force was destroyed, most probably dead. The mutants were apparently now friends with the humans, although from the looks he was getting from some of the people who glanced his way he found that incredibly hard to believe.

So where did that leave him? Victor Creed, otherwise known as Sabretooth, in a bar, with a handful of assorted change, a few dollars, and a motorbike. No friends, no connections, no purpose in life…

He took a deep gulp of the whiskey. It was the last point that was really starting to bother him. Never before had he been so much of a free agent, there had always been someone he was working for, someone he had to answer too. There'd always been a job too, killing people, destroying buildings, moving objects (sometimes quite valuable objects).

The world seemed to have given up on Victor Creed.

Another gulp of the whiskey.

He was lost in his own thoughts now, in the absence of something to do, he'd decided to simply do nothing. He had enough money for a few more drinks, he felt like getting drunk, he could sleep it off under one of the tables ( bars tended not to try and throw him out, especially if he was sleeping and not causing any trouble) and then tomorrow head off to one of the cities. There had to be a city around here somewhere, or even a moderately large town.

Somewhere with gangs, or with businesses and crime lords that could use a man of his talents. Then he'd be working again.

Sabretooth had never asked much of the world, and in return it had never asked much of him. He was required to keep out of the way until he was needed, to kill when asked, to fight when told.

He shivered slightly, not noticing that the door to the bar had just opened. He was so lost in thought that it wasn't until Wolverine was about two steps way from him that his senses screamed into action.

He jumped up, throwing himself sideways as Logan leapt at him. Still in midair, Sabretooth twisted round, snarling, to catch the side of Logan's fist as it swung past him. He kicked out, winding his opponent, then struggled to pull himself out of the way of the table.

Around him people were screaming, some were running. Both men ignored the sounds, Wolverine concentrating on trying to reach Sabretooth, while Sabretooth made desperately for the door. If he could get the bike, if he could only get out.

How the hell had Wolverine managed to catch up with him so quickly?

But Wolverine was in front of the door now (A table spilled over, people running and screaming, a man calling the police in the background) and Sabretooth turned, snarling, even though he knew he couldn't defeat Wolverine, they'd fought before, he'd lost before.

_Bang!_

The gunshot made everybody jump. The barman stood, hands shaking, holding the pistol at arms length. Wolverine was staring at the blood seeping over his chest and in that moment Sabretooth leapt, bowling Logan over as he went, to escape out into the evening.

He grabbed the bike desperately, kicked it into life, and might have got quite far had not the petrol run out twenty metres down the road.

* * *

"The questions we need to be asking is how much _ethical _responsibility does a mutant have within a community? If you have a mutant who can control the weather, say, or lift heavy objects? Do people such as these have the _responsibility_ to use these powers for the greater good?"

"Mystique!" Pyro stared at the television, heart hammering.

"I'm sure we can all agree that the area where this will have the greatest effect is in our armed forces, and security systems. Is it unreasonable to _expect _those mutants with the powers to see through walls, to put out fires, to use there powers for the _communities_ that raised them? For surely, if they have the _ability_, they have the _responsibility_."

"Who is he?" Mystique asked, as the well-dressed man on the television continued to air his views.

Toad shrugged, "Some senator I think.

"Influential?" Mystique slid herself onto the sofa, a mottled patchwork of blue and tan. Her powers were returning, but slowly, as her body fought against the weakening powers of the cure.

"Probably." Pyro replied, thinking of senator Kelly.

"What sort of status do mutants have now then?" Toad wanted to know, "Do we still get kicked around?"

"Shhh." Mystique waved him into silence, staring intently at the man on the screen. Under her breath she muttered, "This is how it started."

"How what started?" Pyro felt a little nervous tremor run through him. He couldn't tell whether it was from fear or excitement.

"The brotherhood, the original brotherhood."

"Mags call de shots, we jump when tol'" Gambit supplied.

Mystique bit her lip, "People just can't get out of the habit of thinking they can use mutants, they'll never truly see us as one of them. We'll always be different, and people who are different are the enemy."

"So we can fight them." Pyro shrugged. He might not be able to defeat Drake, but he was fairly confident non-mutants would be no problem. He could throw fire, for crying out loud, and Gambit had 52 bombs in a pack of playing cards.

As long as the X-men didn't interfere, they would be unbeatable.

* * *

Forgive the title. I ws seriously running out of ideas.

By next week I have to: Write three essays, complete a past paper, go to 12 hours worth of lectures and four hours worth of supervisions, complete two sheets of maths work and attend nine hours worth of practical sessions.

So the next chapter may be slightly shorter. ;-)


	11. Familiar Faces

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics, Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended

Familiar Faces

The motorbike stopped at the side of Alkali Lake. Wolverine got off and left it leaning against a tree. There was no chance Sabretooth would be able to catch him up, and Sabre didn't have the tracking device for the motorbike.

He grudgingly admitted that it was probably a mark of Scott's intelligence that he'd fitted the bike with a tracking device. He had clearly been more perceptive than he'd appeared.

Scott. That reminded him of his mission. Taking one last look back at the bike, he made his way to the edge of the lake, staring down at the water. He shivered slightly as the memories of Jean nudged at the corners of his memory before pushing them back, angry at his moment of weakness. Turning, he skirted round the lake. Time to find out if the rumours were true.

He got his first clue within a few minutes of walking. A long deep gash in the rock, almost splitting it in two, with the remains of a charred tree next to it. Logan gave a grin that was half relief, half mirth. Storm had made the right deduction from the newspaper articles about strange explosions and the appearance of a blind beggar near the site of Stryker's old military base. Wolverine noticed with slight satisfaction that the tree had been pulled up by the roots. Temper, temper Summers.

Further along the lake there were even more signs of rough human habitation. The remains of a badly-made fire, a rotting strip of cloth lying on the ground, and several more charred tree stumps. He sniffed the wind, Storm's information had been quite old and there was every chance that the man had moved away, or died by now.

No scent of Scott Summers. On the other hand, no scent of a corpse either.

He peered into a small cave where two rocks joined at the side of the lake. "Summers?"

No answer. He tried again, shouting louder, "Scott! Cyclops. You there?"

The wind rustled around him. Logan's heart sank as he contemplated the possibility of having to spend the night out here. How long could he stay, a day, two days? How probable was it that Scott was still alive after whatever Jean had done to him, as well as surviving in the wild for almost a month.

Logan was of the private opinion that Scott Summers would be unable to survive in the wild for much more than two days. At least not without a map, tent, and barrage of camping equipment. But Storm had insisted that he at least look for him. They were X-men, never left a man behind.

"Cyclops!" No reply.

He sighed. The whole trip had been pointless. Something to amuse the Wolverine while the peace was organised, something to keep him happy now the war was over. The only enjoyable part of the whole thing had been beating Sabretooth senseless before lugging the bike back down to the town to get petrol. The petrol had been free too, the man at the garage had run off at the site of Wolverine, claws still out, covered in blood, carrying a motorbike in his arms.

He sniffed again, and froze. His ears caught the little sounds, the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. _Someone_ was there.

"Logan?"

The voice was a broken whisper. Logan spun around and stopped, staring with disbelief and a slight amount of admiration at the man in front of him. It was defiantly Scott, there was no mistaking the line of the jaw, or the build of his body, but month-old stubble and a punishing diet had changed him. There was slight wasting where there had been muscle, his hands were stretched numbly in front of him, his eyes heavily bandaged.

He stumbled forwards, his feet were also covered in bandages, and seemed to be bleeding, "Logan, is that you?"

Wolverine found his voice. "Yeah."

There was silence for a while. Logan cleared his throat. "Storm thought you might be here."

"My glasses."

"What? Oh yeah." Wolverine pulled the ruby-lens glasses out of his pocket and held them out. "They got a little bashed up after what Jean did, but Hank sorted them out pretty good."

Scott's waved his hand in front of his face. Logan looked at him a little curiously.

"Logan, I can't see you. Give me the damn glasses!"

Feeling a little awkward Wolverine grabbed Scott's flailing hand and pushed the glasses into them. Scott ran his hands over the lenses, then feverishly began to tear at the bindings around his eyes. "You don't know how hard it is to live with your eyes shut."

Logan took a step to the side. It wasn't that he didn't trust Hank's skills, but standing directly in front of a man with laser vision didn't seem a particularly sensible idea.

Scott pulled the glasses on and opened his eyes, wincing at the sudden brightness. He looked around the clearing, taking in the fireplace, the rocks, and the true nature of the surroundings.

Finally he turned to Logan, standing awkwardly to one side, "What actually happened to Jean?"

Logan hesitated, "Maybe Storm should tell you that."

Scott reached over and grabbed the front of his jacket, "What happened!"

Had Wolverine been given to introspection he might have seen the funny side of being threatened by a starving man less than half his body weight. However all he saw at the moment was that Scott was tired, angry and desperate. He'd been under a lot of strain likely, and looked near to breaking point. A muscle was twitching in his cheek.

Hell, who'da thought that perfect boy-scout Summers would have a breaking point?

Wolverine was slightly impressed.

He pulled Scott's hands away and sat down. "You've missed a lot in the last few weeks."

Scott collapsed on the ground next to him and ran a hand through his long hair, tugging at the knots he encountered, "Cut the crap Logan, just tell me what happened."

* * *

"You must understand Mr President, we are not intending to inter these people because they are mutants. There are many mutants out there who are coexisting peacefully in our towns and cities, many, indeed, who are of great benefit to their communities. It is simply that these people, who happen to be mutants, represent a danger to us all. A danger to the peace of this nation. They are a threat. A major threat. And must be dealt with. Thank you."

The debate had been going on for sometime. The brotherhood had sat and watched it all, the cool tones of the high-class argument occasionally interrupted by a hissing remark from Mystique, or an ironic comment from Gambit.

The commercials finally rolled. Mystique took a trip to the bathroom, and Gambit disappeared into the kitchen. As soon as they'd left, Pyro turned to Toad and whispered, "Aren't you worried?"

The green mutant shrugged, "Should I be?"

"That's us they're talking about. _We're _the threat to the community. Aren't you worried that they'll, I don't know, come after us or something?"

Toad shrugged again, "Mystique'll sort it out."

"But…" Pyro bit his lip. Outwardly he'd tried to look cool and relaxed (a few quick glances at Gambit had shown him that this was clearly the correct response) but inside his head and his stomach were whirling. The thought of being wanted by the police scared him more than he would admit. He couldn't flame _everyone_.

"People are always after us." Toad commented matter-of-factly. "They always want to kick you when you're down. You've just got to hide until you're ready to fight, then kick out hard."

The commercials finished. Mystique and Gambit wandered in and the debate continued. Hide until you're ready to fight then kick out hard. Pyro shot a sideways look at Toad, wondering vaguely how life had treated him to batter that kind of philosophy into him. He was beginning to feel slightly better now, drawing his strength from the resolve to keep his fear hidden from Gambit and Mystique for as long as possible.

The doorbell rang. Mystique looked irritated and glanced at down at Toad, who looked up at Pyro. Pyro flicked the top of his lighter very slightly, letting a small tendril of flame curl into his hand. With bad grace, Toad hauled himself off the sofa and slouched off down the hall. Gambit, who'd caught most of it out of the corner of his eye, grinned.

Toad wrenched open the door, angry yet somewhat resigned to his new status in the brotherhood. "Yeah, what is-Sabe?"

Sabretooth growled at him, showing his teeth, "Magneto here?"

Toad gaped for a few moments, his mouth hanging loosely open, "I thought you'd left!" He said after a while, when his voice returned.

"Came back." Sabretooth pushed past him, "The Wolverine's still alive, did we loose?"

"Umm, kinda." Toad chased after him.

"The kid still here?" Sabretooth stopped outside the door to the lounge. Truth to tell he was a little scared of what Magneto's reaction would be.

"Yeah." Toad made a face, then brightened up, "Magneto's not though."

"Who is it," Mystique called.

Toad gave an insane smile, "It's Sabretooth, he came back!"

* * *

Another chapter done. Something big has got to happen soon because I'm running out of neutral chapter titles.

O.K. I'd like you all to pretend that Sabretooth it wearing big fluffy slippers. And talking very quietly. And the TV in the house it turned up really, really loud. That's why they didn't hear him come in. (hides behind the door in shame for using such an obvious plot contrivance)

I'm trying to keep these chapters above 1500 words. Hence the Really Long Author Notes. Heh.

And yeah, there will be a bit of a delay before the next one. If it's not here after a week assume I've fallen through a wormhole and crashed into the event horizon.


	12. Staccato Signals of Constant Information

* * *

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics, Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Staccato Signals of Constant Information

Mystique frowned, "Why was he going to Alkali Lake?"

Sabretooth shrugged. "Dunno. I headed straight back here when he took the bike back."

"Homme, you certain that's where he was goin'"

"That's what he was muttering to himself."

Pyro thought for a moment. "Maybe Stryker's still alive!"

They turned to look at him. Toad gave a rather condescending chuckle, "A ton of water landed on him fire-boy. He's not an X-man, there's no way he could survive that."

Mystique saw Pyro's expression and softened slightly, "Pyro didn't know that, and I suppose he _might_ have escaped." She glared slightly at Toad's snort of disbelief, "He might have pulled free or something. It's possible."

"After being tied up by Magneto?" Toad raised an eyebrow. "With no jet to get him out? It might not have _killed _him, but he's unlikely to be very well."

Pyro sighed as the bickering started again. This seemed to be the main difference between the brotherhood and the X-men, there was more in-fighting here, more arguments, while as far as he could tell the X-men just took the Professors orders and got on with it. He wondered if the brotherhood had been any different when under the control of Magneto.

He left the argument and wondered downstairs, to collapse in front of the TV. He'd been spending far too long watching the TV lately. He wondered briefly if they'd have to resume training sessions now Sabretooth was back.

The X-men trained all the time, didn't they? As part of their classes or something. While he despised the man as a mutant hater Pyro had to admit that Stryker had a point. An organisation that keeps a high-speed jet, and trains its students in combat certainly doesn't _look _peaceful.

After a fruitless search for the remote he pulled himself up and switched the TV on at the wall.

"…who was a major, possibly _the_ major organiser of the destruction of Alcatraz and the assault on Worthington Labs."

Pyro nearly swallowed his tongue at the face on the screen.

"And that brings us to the end of the news. Join us after the break for an in-depth look at…"

"Gak, wait!" Pyro yelled desperately at the screen as the photo of Magneto disappeared and the familiar tune of CNN washed over him. "What was that all about."

"Somet'ing wrong?" Gambit sauntered downstairs.

"The news…Magneto. He was on TV. They were saying," Pyro desperately searched through his memory, "Something about him. I only caught the end." He glowered at the news reporter in front of him. "We don't want the weather, stupid woman, what's happened to Magneto?"

"News is every hour." Gambit said, "T'ink we better get Mystique."

* * *

Wolverine looked across the clearing feeling distinctly self-conscious. Scott hadn't moved at all during his rather broken rendition of events, just twitched once when he'd mentioned Jean's death.

Logan was nervous. This angry, brooding wild-man wasn't the Scott he was used to. And while he had every confidence in his mutant healing powers, he wasn't sure if there was much his body could do if Scott lasered his head off and chucked it in the lake.

After a while Scott stood up. "The Professor's dead?"

"Well, yeah." Logan frowned. "Storm's in charge now."

"She should be." Scott nodded, but Logan thought he saw a muscle twitch in his cheek. "She was always a good teacher, no doubt she'll manage the school well."

"Yeah." Wolverine tried to think of something to say. There was silence for a little while.

"It's weird to think of the Professor being dead." Scott was beginning to sound a little more like his old self, "I mean, he was always there you know? Always. Ever since my powers first developed he was looking out for me. I never thought he'd be gone."

"Yeah." Wolverine repeated feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Why the hell did Summers have to make such an issue of everything. The Professor was dead, and the sooner they got back to the mansion the better.

"I've been thinking about Jean a lot."

"Right." Logan said shortly, turning to stare at the Lake.

"I think she found it very hard. Especially over the last few years. There was a …change. Something different about her."

"Yeah, she was slowly turning evil." Logan stood up. "We better start heading back before it gets dark."

Scott stared at his retreating figure. "Logan, did you feel anything when you killed her? Or just the mercenary's satisfaction of a job well done?"

Wolverine stopped. Scott held his breath, with a horrible feeling that he'd just overstepped some unseen line. Then, with a shrug, Logan moved on. "If we get back to the motorbike, I can call Storm with the jet."

"Great. Uh, Logan?"

"What."

"About you and Jean, I didn't really mean it in that-"

"Forget it."

Scott sighed, "I just didn't want us to start with the arguing again."

"I said forget it." Logan hauled the motorbike upright and pulled the communicator off. "Hank? Tell Storm to send the jet over. I've found him."

* * *

Pyro had never realised before just how long an hour could take. Mystique paced around the living room, occasionally giving angry glares at the muted face of presenter, who as far as Pyro could tell, was encouraging people to cycle to work.

Gambit pulled out his pack of cards and gave a desultory attempt at teaching them to play poker. There was nothing much to bet with, and both Pyro and Toad lost anything they owned to the Cajun long before the news reappeared, and Magneto's face was once again plastered all over the screen.

It turned out that he'd been captured. His powers had returned as slowly and unpredictably as Mystiques; he'd been arrested while trying to break into the high security vaults where the remainder of the cure was stored. They watched in silence. Once the news ended Mystique turned the television off and turned to stare at the wall.

Gambit's raised an eyebrow. "Dey got him den."

The phrase _we've gotta get him out _rose up in Pyro's chest to be strangled by his sense of self-preservation before it could reach his mouth. A younger, more naive Pyro would have blurted it straight out, but he'd spent long enough in the brotherhood to realise when his opinion wasn't needed.

"Mystique?" Toad asked. She was staring at the floor now, her eyes flickering with conflicting emotions. Her skin was still not stable and now, with her mind elsewhere, the pale flesh-tones were slowly reclaiming her body.

There was silence for a while. Gambit lounged against the doorframe, tense as a cat. Toad stared at Mystique, inwardly willing her to speak, to move, to say something to prove that she was the same old Mystique she had always been, to pretend that the cure hadn't changed her, that Magneto's rejection of her hadn't shaken her world to the very foundations.

Pyro felt a little awkward, but at the same time the mounting excitement was rising within him. This was an important moment, time for action, and he was here, in the middle of it, not shoved to the side while others made the decision for him.

Sabretooth was the least worried. Whatever happened, he'd be there, to obey as he had always done.

Gambit broke the silence, "What you wanna do chere?"

She looked up. The blue flickered back over her skin, looking strange beneath the jumper and skirt. Toad held his breath, not sure what he wanted the decision to be.

"We get him out." Her voice was decisive as always, but there was a hollowness in it that had not been there before. "Magneto is…one of us."

* * *

Another chapter down. Sorry about the long delay. Again, it'll probably be a week till the next time. The title is from a Paul Simon song by the way. It's not really that relevant, just wait till you see the next chapter title!

Reviews are much appreciated and will be answered.

Oh and if you're an X-men Evo fan, I've written a little toady angst shot called 'Hit the Toad, win a Prize'. Just thought I'd mention it :p


	13. The Best Laid Plans

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics, Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Quick note: The helicopter they stole from Stryker has morphed into a jet. Sorry about that.

The Best Laid Plans…

Pyro huddled under the trees, trying to seek some protection from the rain. Next to him Toad flicked his tongue out, catching a bird in mid-air.

"That is _disgusting_, man."

Toad grinned and swallowed, "Get used to it fire-boy, we might be here for some time."

Pyro shivered and pulled his jacket around him as thunder rolled overhead. "How come I got stuck with you?"

"Aw. Did you want to be with the Cajun?"

Pyro sneered at him, trying to look as superior as possible with his hair dripping wet, "I bet you'd rather be safe with Mystique."

"No kidding," Toad muttered, glancing anxiously at the com-link on his wrist "Feels weird doing mission without Mystique involved."

Pyro nodded then shivered again. Mystique was still having problems with the cure, too many to trust herself in an important mission like this. Which meant it was down to Gambit to try and find out where exactly Magneto was being kept and attempt to get him out. He'd taken Sabretooth with him, on the basis that while subtlety might not be Victor Creed's strong point, very few people refused to give information to an angry Sabretooth.

Pyro and Toad were stuck being backup, a job that neither of them were particularly enjoying.

The com-link spluttered into life. "You dere?"

Pyro jumped at the sound of Gambits voice, raising his com-link to his mouth, "Yeah, should we come over?"

There was a crash followed by a large amount of static. Toad and Pyro exchanged worried glances, "Do you want help?" Toad tried.

"Get over here now!" Gambits voice ended in a high shriek. Toad sniggered, before pulling on his gloves, "Ready to rumble fire-boy?"

Pyro's eyes were wild, "Yeah!"

They jumped into the jeep, Toad was driving, but this time Pyro didn't argue as they sped out of the forest, wheels screeching at every corner. They weren't too far from the detention block, which had been built on the age-old principle that if you build a large square of concrete in the middle of nowhere there won't be anywhere for escaped prisoners to run to. The small group of trees they'd been sheltering in had been the only cover for miles.

The jeep bounced down the road towards the prison, Pyro grinned, then laughed as the muffled sound of an explosion was heard from inside.

"Hurry up, we're gonna miss it!"

"You want to try driving this thing."

"Yeah!"

They reached the end of the road an approached the gates. The guards on duty were looking nervous, and there were sound of frantic activity from inside.

"Who the hell are you."

Pyro tried to smile disarmingly but ended up looking slightly insane, "We are authorised personnel."

"I'll need some identification kid."

"Really?" Toad rolled his eyes as Pyro lifted a hand, "Well, do you recognise this?"

_Whoosh_

The doors blew inwards, the guards were blown back in a wall of fire and pain. Pyro felt the fierce joy of battle and power well up within him, "Come on!"

He ran forward laughing crazily. Toad, slightly behind, yelled into his com-link "We're here, where are you?"

Sabretooth's voice grunted back "In the basement."

Pyro flamed a few more of the guards then turned to Toad. "Where do we go?"

"Basement. Watch out!"

"Waah!" Pyro ducked as the bullets flew overhead, feeling some of the joy in his stomach turn into a sick twisting fear. They ran through a set of doors, down a corridor, Toad looking desperately for stairs.

"Hey. Pyro. This way!"

They ran downwards, heading towards the explosions in the basement.

* * *

Mystique sighed, and poured herself a cup of coffee. Unlike Magneto, she was never happy about trusting others with her carefully arranged plans. Had it been up to her, she could've had Eric out before the alarms had started ringing.

But she'd had to leave it to them. To trust her carefully thought out tactics to a Cajun mercenary, a brainless muscle-man, an adolescent with delusions of adequacy, and an electronics genius. Not the ideal crack force she would have chosen for a breakout mission.

It must be so _easy_ for Xavier. He has simply hordes of mutants at his disposal, all trained in the danger room, all able to cope with a variety of situations and combats. Some of them were even intelligent.

True, Gambit was smart, and Toad had his moments, but Gambit was untrustworthy. And Mortimer, for all his loyalty, was not exactly the most powerful mutant they had. She remembered pulling him from the sea around Liberty Island; cold, weak and burnt, he'd reminded her of the first time she'd met him, shivering helplessly in the street with blood on his feet and scars on his back.

She took a sip of the coffee, trying to calm herself. She was in a state of highly nervous tension, not only because of the danger involved in the breakout, but the implications of doing so. Pulling her dress off (apart from a few patches on her arms and legs her skin colour was back to normal) she curled up on the sofa like a cat.

How would a mutant attack on a high-security prison affect the already shaky mutant-human truce? And, more importantly in Mystiques opinion, what would it be like to have Magneto back? Would it be back on the warpath, back to the battle? Deep in her heart, Mystique rather hoped so. These last few weeks with the boys had been fun, but not particularly useful.

She gave a glance nervously at the com-link sitting on the coffee table. Gambit had promised he would contact her the moment things went wrong, although previous experience lead her to doubt this. No doubt the first she would ever hear of anything would be a disarming call of "Mais, cheri, there is un petit problem" just before the police carted them off.

Even if they were caught, there wasn't much that could be done about it. She felt a slight swell of pride at that thought. There wasn't a cell built that could hold Gambit, unless it held him naked…

She blinked slightly, shocked at the place her thoughts had carried her.

Pyro then. The boy might be as idealistically hopeless as a lemming on crusade, but he was powerful. No cell would hold him for any amount of time, unless they kept him completely in the dark, which was unlikely. All it would take was one lamp, one cigarette, one trip on parole…

Sabretooth was another one who wouldn't stay long in prison. And if they put aside their macho pride for long enough to work together they'd be fine.

She chewed her bottom lip, trying not to let her imagination wander into the murky areas of Mortimer in captivity. Chained, captive, helpless, with no friends nearby…

The com-link buzzed. Gratefully, she snatched at it. They'd been gone three hours, surely they must have managed to get him out by now.

The com-link fizzed at her a bit, before spluttering into life.

"Mystique? Ah. Mais, cheri, there is…un petit problem."

She took a deep breath, her fingers clenching around the small device, "Gambit, what's wrong."

"Uh. Not'ing much. Jus'…de X-men have arrived.

* * *

It had taken Pyro a few minutes to work out what was going on. The corridor was filled with smoke and flames, with the sound of gunfire an explosions filling his ears it wasn't until the familiar red laser-beams came lancing through the smoke that he realised that the X-men were there.

He stepped back quickly, heart racing. What were they doing here? This was nothing to do with them! He remembered Wolverine from his days back at school and gulped.

Frantically he turned to Gambit, pulling at his sleeve. "Gambit, the X-men!"

Gambits eyes glowed red, his face wreathed in smoke. "Well, homme, you show dem what you c'n do."

"Yeah." Pyro mumbled, his mind giving another sickening lurch as he remembered his failed fight with Bobby.

"Hey." Gambit gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder, "Don' die now. Dere's not much even de Wolverine c'n do if he's on fire."

Pyro gave a shaky little laugh.

Gambit pulled out two cards, charging them up. "We get 'em together, hey?"

Pyro nodded, the fear replaced by a wild fantastical laughter that bubbled up inside him. They could do it! And it would be something if the four of them managed to send everyone of the Professors precious X-men back home, unsuccessful.

He pulled out a thread of fire, making it larger and larger until he had a ball of fire bigger than his head.

"I'm ready."

Gambit gave a grin, "Den lets fry some X-men!"

* * *

Mystique pulled on a coat and headed outside, running to the jet that was hidden in the trees behind the house. "What happened?"

Gambit's voice was replaced by Toad, sounding exhausted, "Sorry bout this. It started off OK, Gambit and the kid blasted the entire hallway, but they just appeared right out of nowhere straight after that."

She pulled herself deftly into the cockpit, grabbing the controls and pulling her seatbelt on in one swift movement (the jacket was thrown off in disgust after becoming entangled in the door) "Where are you now?"

"Still stuck in the basement. We're holding them off, but it won't last."

"I'm coming." The jet took off. Inwardly Mystique cursed herself for not thinking of this earlier. She should have been there with them, waiting…somewhere. Except there had been nowhere near the prison to hide a jet.

"Could you try and get back up to the surface?"

She winced as there was a bang from the com-link. Toads voice came back, sounding slightly shaken, "Um…yeah. Gambit just got shot. I mean, don't worry, it's OK, it was only his arm, but we're gonna have to pull out soon."

"Pull out now!" She didn't shout, but inside, behind the cool capable woman steering towards the small grey dot down below there was a part of her that was desperately sobbing.

She pushed it away. It was the part of her she never listened too.

Another bang from the com-link, and now she could see the flames leaping up from the prison below. She steered the jet down, trying to get as close as possible.

Something large and white flew past the window, almost knocking her off course. Desperately she scrambled for control, trying to land in safely and if possible mangle whatever it was that had flown past her into a pulp with the propellers.

* * *

"Hey, Scott!"

"What." Scott grunted, sending another optic blast into the smoke. "Damn, they've gone,"

"Stairs." Logan grunted, leaping forward.

"Logan and Ororo, take the stairs, Colossus, you and Hank follow me. What _is_ it Bobby?"

"It's Angel. He's says Mystique's coming in."

* * *

"Gah!"

"Gambit? You OK?"

"Ah, that hurt."

"Watch it!" Sabretooth lunged at Logan as he rounded the corner of the stairs. "Keep going."

Pyro pulled out another fire bomb. "Move out the way."

"No time!" Toad saw Storm's face below and gulped, "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

They raced up the stairs, Gambit clutching at his arm.

* * *

She crept up behind him after landing the jet. Nobody interfered with her flying without paying for it.

_Thunk_

Angel's head snapped back with a sickening thud. Satisfied, Mystique pulled his prone body out of the way and opened the door of the jet, before getting back behind the controls.

_Woosh_

Half of the wall exploded outwards in a confusion of debris and flame. Pyro was in the lead, closely followed by Gambit, as they raced towards the jet. She saw Sabretooth aim a swing at Wolverine, his long hair matted with blood. Toad was bounding along somewhere behind

Cyclops was there. With any luck he wouldn't think of blasting the jet apart. She tried to banish the thought from her mind, there was a high chance at least one of them would be a telepath.

Pyro flung himself into the jet, then turned to shoot fire into the opposition. Mystique noticed with a shameful sense of satisfaction that Scott was blasted back down the stairs, no trouble from that quarter for a while.

They had forgotten about the prison guards. About three feet away from the jet Gambit gave a cry and fell, blood welling from the side of his leg. Pyro gave a gasp, then shot a steady stream of fire towards where the guns were hidden, yelling triumphantly at every scream of pain.

Sabretooth ran forward, grabbed the fallen man, swung him onto his shoulders and pushed him bodily into the jet. Gambit clenched his teeth tightly, giving only a small hiss of pain and Sabretooth shoved him into the seat and pulled the seatbelt across.

"Go go go!" Pyro yelled, still unrelenting in his assault of heat and flame.

"Take off." Sabretooth grunted.

"Where's Toad?" Mystique demanded.

Sabretooth looked baffled. Gambit shook his head dumbly, biting his lip and pressing his hands against the would in his leg. Pyro was in a world of his own, shooting fiery vengeance across the courtyard.

"There they are!" Scott was back up. "Keep away from the jet, Logan, I'm gonna try and blast it."

"Take off now." Sabretooth suggested.

Viciously Mystique twisted the controls round, taking a last look back over the smoke-clouded area as she did so. There was no sign of Toad. Pyro shot another pillar of fire towards Scott, who flung himself to the floor as it rolled harmlessly over him.

"Pyro, get in the jet." Sabretooth grabbed the boy and shoved him into place as the white jet they had stolen from Stryker's base lifted up into the air and flew away from the prison block leaving the X-men far behind.

* * *

Wo0t! This story already has over 2000 hits and over 50 reviews. Man I am so proud. And I think I even made a cliffy. Was that a cliffy? At any rate the actual last sentence was kinda crap. Sorry.

I know you are all busy and do not have time to review but I would really, really appreciate some feedback on the fight scene because I have never written a fight scene before. Your reviews will ensure better written fight scenes in future, which is what you want, right?

Delusions of adequacy. Hehe. Love that line. Somebody says it in 'Notes on a Scandal' but it may be a quote from somewhere else. It is a kickass quote :)


	14. Placing the Pieces

Disclaimer: See other pages.

Notes: I never knew little Toady was so well loved! There were a large number of people worried for his health and safety, I'm not sure if this chapter helps your fear any…

Placing the Pieces

Cell suggested prison, but the lack of chains suggested X-men. Toad huddled miserably in the corner, wondering where the hell he was.

It was cold, which suggested prison, because the X-men knew he was cold-blooded and liked to pretend they were compassionate. On the other hand he had no injuries except those he'd sustained from the fight, which suggested X-men, in Toads limited experience of the police-force.

Most of the burns and scorch marks had healed, courtesy of the green slime that covered his skin. The only wounds that remained were a cut down the side of his leg and a bruise that seemed to cover the side of his head. Both, he suspected, were from the Wolverine.

So, no certain information as to where he was. Next question, where were the others? Had they been captured too?

He tried to remember back to the fight. Mystique had been there in the jet, and they'd been running towards the jet and suddenly Wolverine had been in front of him snarling and striking out with his claws. Toad had kicked desperately, felt the cold rake of steel down his leg and then something had smashed him round the head.

Pyro and Gambit had probably managed to get away. A few minutes of cautious listening confirmed his belief that either the walls were incredibly thick or the Cajun was not trapped in the immediate vicinity. And Pyro had been quite close to the jet when Wolverine had struck, he was probably fine.

Toad sniffed a little, allowing himself a few moments of self-pity. Why hadn't they come back for him? Would they come to rescue him?

The was a crash from somewhere above him and he cowered, his mind racing through the possible alternatives. If it was the police he was in for a kicking, although it shouldn't be too hard to get out. If it was the X-men he stood a bit more of a chance. Wolverine might be fierce enough, but Summers played by the book and as far as he could remember the Professor would not allow the questioning of anyone under duress.

Toad gave a little snigger. Why would he? Why break someone's arms when you can reach into their mind for free?

There was the sound of footsteps heading towards him. Carefully he moved to stand just in front of the door, tense, ready to strike out. He'd tried this trick before, prison guards were usually thrown sufficiently off balance by the sight of the prisoner standing right in front of them to allow him to make an escape.

The footsteps stopped, right in front of the door. Toad took a deep breath. Any minute now the door would open, he'd kick whatever was behind it and make a swift break for freedom. If there was anything other than the Wolverine waiting outside, he'd be in with a fair chance.

There was a crash, an the large metallic door flew outwards in a trail of sparks. Toad blinked stupidly as it crashed into the opposite wall, then gulped at the sight of the figure in front of him.

"Magneto?"

* * *

Hadn't somebody somewhere said that War consisted of long periods of boredom followed by short periods of excitement? It was one of those quotes that Pyro had heard endless parodies of without ever being sure what the original phrase had been. Maybe there had never been an original phrase.

The brotherhood sat in front of the television once again. The news had just finished and Pyro was beginning to miss the familiar slurp of ice-cream from where Toad usually slouched on the edge of the sofa.

Toad wasn't the only one he missed. Gambit was upstairs asleep, his leg and arm bandaged, recovering from the failed rescue attempt. After all, as Mystique had pointed out it a voice of withering scorn, not only had they failed to rescue one member of the party, they had lost another.

Mystique snatched at the remote and turned the TV off, "Magneto got out."

Pyro shot a nervous glance at Sabretooth, "Um, are you sure? Maybe the fight ripped up more than we thought. After all the picture on the news was pretty fuzzy, maybe the X-men smashed it right after we left."

Mystique turned to glare at him, "I know what a prison looks like after Eric tears it to pieces."

Pyro cringed back slightly, "O.K."

"Why hasn't he come back."

He gave a desperate shrug, unsure of his role in this situation. It was Gambit who coped with Mystiques moods and temperaments, aptly diffusing situations with a rogues smile. And Toad was the one she complained to. He was just an extra. He was, hah, he was the fire-power.

For the first time since he'd joined the brotherhood, he felt a slight twinge of pity for someone other than himself. With Toad captured, Gambit injured and Magneto who-knew-where Mystique was on her own, all the people she'd ever cared for (if she cared for anyone) were in danger.

"Eric knows he can trust me." Mystique slid off the sofa and started to pace around the room, "He knows he can trust us. We came back to rescue him."

Pyro gave another half-shrug. Why was she asking him all this stuff?

"Why didn't he come back to us in the first place?"

"Maybe he wanted a change?" Pyro tried.

She stared at him angrily, "We were good enough before!"

"Um. Yeah." He tried to backtrack, "Maybe, he doesn't know where Gambit lives…or, um."

Mystique gave a cry of frustration and left the room, storming upstairs presumably to check on the Cajun. Pyro turned to Sabretooth.

"What's up with her?"

Sabretooth bared his teeth briefly then left, stomping down to the basement to beat some other piece of metal into a pulp.

Pyro sat alone in the room, starting at the wall. After a while he switched the television back on. Long periods of boredom? Dead right.

* * *

"So. What do we know?"

Logan hid a grin, which turned into a yawn. Scott was back, which meant more meetings, more schedules and infinitely long periods of time standing around talking about things.

As far as Logan was concerned, the problem was simple. Magneto was out there, the brotherhood was out there. All they needed to do was find a mutant that could use Cerebro, find them, and beat the crap out of them. No problems.

"We know that Magneto has escaped."

"No kidding bub." Logan mumbled, but not too loudly. Scott had changed, the old boy-scout was still there but there was something wild in his eyes that earned him (at least in Logan's view) a certain measure of respect.

"We know the brotherhood attempted to rescue him, their plan appeared at first not to have succeeded. However, as Magneto was discovered to have escaped no less than an hour after the attack on the prison, it may have been that their first attack was a decoy."

Logan lit a cigar. Storm tutted at him, annoyed.

"Logan we're trying to have a serious discussion here."

Scott gave them both a brief glance before turning back to the computer based 3D map in front of him, "Unless he's met back up with the brotherhood…"

"Which is likely if he's working with them." Hank interrupted.

"Yes, but if he's not then he doesn't have a jet." Scott moved a hand over the contours of the map, which rippled under his touch, "In which case it's safe to assume that he didn't get far."

"But if he did have a jet he could be anywhere."

Scott frowned. "Do we know what forces he has?"

Storm frowned, "Pyro was there, so was Sabretooth and Toad, and that man with the red eyes."

"Gambit." Scott gave a slight scowl at the name.

"Don't forget Mystique." Hank put in.

"All the old crew." Scott sighed. "Do we have any data on the other dangerous mutants from Alcatraz?"

Storm bit her lip, looking worried, "Almost all of them are assumed to have died during the explosion."

"Assumed?" Logan took a pull on his cigar, "These are mutants we're talking about. It's not safe to assume anything." He gave a short barking laugh, "They're just like us. Very difficult to kill."

* * *

This chapter is late and short. Sorry about that. My exams are scarily close and this week was my last week of lectures so everything was a bit manic. I really meant to make this chapter longer, but that would have meant not posting it for about two weeks and I didn't want to leave you guys on a cliffy too long.

Don't worry, there are no lectures anymore, so the next one should be sooner and longer J


	15. Chess for Four Players

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Notes: I'm Alive! If there are any readers still out there I apologise for the long delay. My exams are all over now, so should be able to write more.

And yeah there is a new character, if you don't like him say and I'll kill him off for you ;)

Chess for Four Players

"So, are you with us?"

Toad nodded quickly, his eyes fixed on Juggernaut who was standing behind Magneto's chair. "Yeah, sure. Um, what about the others?"

Magneto raised an eyebrow, "Others?"

Jugganaut shifted his weight slightly and Toad cringed, "Mystique and Gambit and the kid…"

Magento turned away from him to stare at the wall, "They have failed, there is a new brotherhood now."

Toad glanced around the empty room, "They outnumber us though. Not, err, not that it matters."

"Do they?" Magneto had an enigmatic smile on, "Four against four is hardly outnumbered, and I don't plan on fighting against them after all."

"Four?" Toad croaked, his mouth suddenly dry. He was feeling jumpy enough as it was, surrounded and captured (yes it was captured, even by Magneto).

There was a slight rushing sound and suddenly there was a boy standing next to Magneto, a wild grin on his face. Silver-hair, pale skin, he looked about Pyro's age and there was something hauntingly familiar about the shape of his face, the curves of his cheekbones.

"This is Quicksilver." Magneto said dryly, as the boy shot off diagonally across the room. "He's my son…"

* * *

Sabretooth lunged forward, catching Pyro off guard as Gambit threw himself desperately sideways. Scrabbling away, Pyro shot out a roll of flame above Sabretooth's head, grinning as the other man ducked and swiped his claws out.

"Aaargh, homme, watch de arm."

Sabretooth grunted an apology.

"I though your arm was healed?"

"Not completely."

Pyro rolled the flame around the basement before earthing it in the side of the wall, "I hope its better before we have to go and rescue Toad."

Unlike with Magneto's capture, the decision to rescue Toad had been instant and unanimous. Mystique searched through the criminal records, trying to find if he'd been captured by police, while the others waited, rested and practised.

"What about Magneto?" Pyro had asked as soon as he had the guts.

Mystique had shrugged, "If he wants us, he knows where we are."

She was becoming more like her old self now, cool and in command. Her skin was back to its normal colour although still had a tendency to flicker into tan at odd moments.

Training sessions were wonderfully informal, and Pyro was even beginning to manage to control his terror when several pounds of angry Sabretooth lunged towards him, snarling.

"Do the card fireworks!"

Gambit grinned and pulled the ace of diamonds out of his pocket. It flipped upwards expertly towards the ceiling, to explode in a flash of coloured light.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Bobby poked his head into the hospital, "Is your head OK?"

Warren sat up, wincing slightly as one of his wings scraped over the headboard. "Yeah, it feels a lot better now."

Booby nodded, "That's bad luck getting knocked out so early."

"Yeah…" He gave a smile as Bobby entered, followed closely by Rogue and Colossus, "What did I miss."

The large Russian shrugged, "It was mostly just confusion. There was dust and smoke and fire all over the place, and the brotherhood all trying to escape."

"Was Pyro there?" Rogue asked. Bobby bit his lip but didn't say anything, whatever he felt about his former friend he kept his feelings deep inside.

Colossus nodded, "He was there. Toad as well I think, and the Sabretooth."

They sat in silence for a bit, Bobby's mind still slightly in turmoil. What did he feel about St John? What feelings did you have for a boy you'd once tried to kill?

Except he hadn't tried to kill him at all. He'd knocked him out. And walking away from the prone fallen body had been the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. He'd felt almost relieved when he'd discovered that St John was still alive and well, it removed the burden of guilt.

It removed Cain's mark, the label of murderer.

"It feels weird," Warrens voice broke through his thoughts, "Being X-men…"

Rogue sat down on the side of the bed, "We aren't real X-men, just backup. We're not part of the troops, not now Scott is back."

"But we're still something."

"I guess so…"

"Does anyone know how it started?" Colossus asked.

They thought for a while, "Eric and the Professor were friends." Bobby offered, "But they fell out over something."

"When did Mystique come into it?"

"Hang on, weren't Scott and Jean the first pupils? They must know?"

Bobby let the questions wash over him. Logan had been right, they were just kids, fighting for something they only half understood, fighting for something that had started long before their time, and would still be going when they were dead.

After they died, would anyone know how or why it had started? There would come a time when no one remembered the Professor, would they still understand what he had meant, why exactly it was wrong to use your mutant powers to fight, to destroy a force that was clearly much weaker than you?

And Bobby found, with a deepening sense of unease, that even he was finding it hard to remember. Or hard to remind himself to remember.

He thought: We're just children, just kids, and we're in a war. And it's not really fun at all, it's scary and worrying. Angel's alright, he can fly over everyone else, and Colossus just smashes straight through everything, but all I can do is stand where I am and fight.

He reaches out and takes Rogues gloved hand. It's the last straw really, that on top of everything else the wonderful time he enjoyed with her, the blessed beautiful week when the cure still worked, can never happen again.

* * *

Concentrating, hard, Logan extended his hand. Storm was opposite him, her eyes staring into his. Scott and Hank watched from the sidelines.

There was silence for a bit. Logan's hand hesitated then dropped back to his side. Scott rolled his eyes and turned back to the computer screen, Hank hid a grin.

Logan gave a little cough, trying to avoid Storm's eyes. "Uh, how do the little horse-shaped ones move again?"

She sighed and looked down at the chessboard. "Forward two, one to the side."

"Any side?"

"Yes."

Logan shifted uneasily in the chair, "And they can jump over the other troops?"

"Yes."

"Seems kinda sneaky."

Storm gave a small smile, "They are the best pieces of all, they can sneak up when you least expect. They are the only pieces that perform a move that the queen cannot."

"Right. What about these ones?"

"The castles, they move in straight lines, along any straight line."

Logan nodded, "They sound more my kind of thing."

Scott gave an exasperated noise from the corner, "Still no report of Magneto and the brotherhood."

"They could be anywhere by now." Hank pointed out. "I'm sure they'll show themselves soon."

Scott turned to stare at him, "Dr McCoy, our aim is not to attack them when they cause damage but to prevent them from causing any problems in the first place."

There was a short silence. Logan pulled out a cigar and lit it, "So what about the queen?"

"She is the most dangerous piece on the board."

He raised an eyebrow.

"She can move anywhere, up down, left, right, diagonally in any direction."

"So quite powerful huh?"

"Very."

"And the King?"

"He does nothing. The aim of the game is to keep him safe. If the king is surrounded and unable to move, you've lost."

Light glinted off Logan's smile, "So this is the game the Professor used to play?"

Hank nodded.

"I guess he was the King then."

Storm looked away. Logan mentally cursed himself for bringing up the Professors death in such a blunt manner. Carefully, hesitantly, he reached forward and moved his castle back a few squares.

"Ororo?"

"Hmmm?" She looked up, tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Your move."

* * *

Yeah this chappy is weird and symbolic. In case anyone wants the lineup (who everyone's chess piece is) ask for it in the review and I'll reply for you.


	16. Ring of Fire

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

A/N: I am on holiday, and spending lots of time hiking, walking, camping and otherwise away from civilisation. I will update as often as I can, but it will probably be relatively sporadic. Order returns in September. And I've just realised how crap the last chapter was, sorry. If it gets too bad tell me and I'll kill everyone off with a nuclear blast or something.

To my reviewers: THANK YOU! You guys rock my world.

Ring of Fire

Who would have thought it took so much paperwork to run a school? Storm stared hopelessly around at the Professor's desk; the neat shelves, the organised filing, and the reams and reams of paper.

Reviews, reports, newspaper clippings, handwritten letters in various stages of legibility (she recognised her own handwriting occasionally, as she flipped desperately through the sheets). It was all well ordered and precise, but there was so much of it…

She didn't know where to start.

Added to that, of course, was the problem of Magneto's continued disappearance, the ever-present threat of the brotherhood, and the continuing deterioration of relationships between the mutant community and the government. Storm had not yet seen the morning's newspaper, but if she had it would have been yet another source of worry and anxiety.

And on top of this she was meant to run a school! How on earth was she supposed to manage? How had the Professor managed?

What did the school teach anyway? The usual lessons of course; physics, English, maths, but on top of that had been the Professor's lessons, something between ethics and humanitarianism, teaching people what to do with the powers they had and, more importantly, what not to do.

_Do you know what happens to a Toad when it gets struck by lightening?_

She sighed, rubbing a hand over her forehead. Sometimes you had to fight; sometimes it was necessary, even the Professor had understood that. He'd fought, hadn't he?

_Callisto, lying in front of her, smoke rising from the piercing in her lip, body writhing on the metal grate._

He must have fought at some stage, back when it had been just him and Magneto maybe. Him against Magneto, she was sure of it, because wasn't Professor Xavier against everything Magneto defended?

She pulled open one of the desk draws, her heart sinking at the sheer amount of paperwork inside. She wondered if there was some way she could offload some of the work onto Scott.

_Slam_

The door burst back, shaking on its hinges slightly. She had a brief image of a boy with silver-white hair standing for a moment in the corner of the room, before something whacked her around the back of the head.

She turned quickly, raising her arms as the wind began to swirl around her, "Who's there?"

_Thwap!_

The long sticky tongue wrapped around her hair, pulling her backwards. She turned again, trying desperately to get rain, lightning, anything.

Toad spat, watching with a certain sense of satisfaction as the weather-witch flailed around desperately in front of him, trying to pull the hard green mask off her face. Behind him, Quicksilver closed the door.

"Hey Toad-man, I think you broke the lock."

Toad shrugged, watching coldly as Storms struggles began to subside, "We're not staying here for long."

"So…" Quicksilver glanced around the room, taking in the painted walls and comfortable upholstery, "This is the house that Xavier built."

"Just get the papers."

"Hey what's the rush?" The boy grinned, and then started searching through the draws and cupboards, paper whirling around him.

Toad slouched to the door and kept watch, keeping an eye on the kid. Quicksilver was beginning to annoy him. Pyro had been bad enough, but at least he and Sabretooth had been around to swat the kid down when he got too cocky. You couldn't swat someone who moved at near-lightspeed, and hazing the boss's son was never a good plan.

And there was something else about Quicksilver than annoyed him too. Something about the way he moved, the way he talked…

Toad eyes narrowed as he watched the boy leaf quickly through a stack of papers.

_The kids a fruit. Look at him; more camp than a row of tents._

But there was nothing he could do. He didn't trust Magneto the way he trusted Mystique. He was _scared _of Magneto. And Quicksilver was Magneto's son…

Another new kid. How long before it's all new kids, how long before it moves on to the next generation?

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Toad took a peek through the keyhole. The sight in front of him made him almost swallow his overly-large tongue.

"Out, get out!"

"What?" Quicksilver froze with an armful of paperwork.

"Quick, quick, the window or something!"

"Wha-we're four stories high!"

Cursing, Toad shoved him out of the way, feeling another thrill of satisfied revenge as the kid slipped on a rug and bashed his head against an ornate paperweight. "Move this desk in front of the door."

It was sorted by the time Quicksilver had caught his balance, the desk pushed up against the door and the Toad crouched behind the desk, scanning the room for a way out.

Next to him Quicksilver snorted in disgust, "Well done, you've just blocked the only exit."

There was a bang on the door which made them both jump. "Storm?"

Toads eyes flew automatically to the corpse on the floor, his mind racing. To his utter shame and horror Quicksilver tried to brazen it out, producing a remarkably high falsetto. "Yes?"

A few more bangs on the door, then a large thump as several pounds of angry Wolverine tried to break through the combined weight of door and desk, "Who the hell's in there?"

"Umm, no one." Toad quavered, motioning Quicksilver towards the window. The boy however had turned back to the desk and was grabbing handfuls of paper.

_Bang bang bang_

"Leave the damn paperwork, Magneto can come back for it if it's that important." Toad hissed, pulling the window open and wincing at the creak as he did so. They had one chance; Wolverine was not a team player, and as long as he forgot that he had an entire mansion full of backup, they might just be able to let themselves into the grounds and escape.

"Come on!"

"Coming, coming."

There was a dizzying drop down. Carefully, Toad swung himself onto the window ledge. If the worst came to the worst he could jump down, but the boy would have to find some other way out.

"Scott! Hank! We've got a problem!"

Damn…

Behind him, Quicksilver had shuffled out onto the ledge and was now staring at the drop, looking terrified.

"What do we do?"

There was no help for it. "Get on my back."

"What!"

"I can jump down there." Seeing the boy hesitate Toad hissed at him "Or I could just leave you here."

His eyes opened wide, and then Quicksilver's arms were around his neck. Trying not to think too hard about the fact that he was technically being hugged by Magneto's son (there were some things that made even a Toad feel sick) he jumped, his long legs taking the impact as he landed in the grounds.

There were shouts from above him, possibly the Wolverine had managed to force his way through the door. He ignored all the sounds, and tried to orientate himself, where was the way out?

"See you back at the camp Toad-man."

"What!" but Quicksilver had gone, leaving Toad in enemy territory, miles away from anywhere, and suddenly feeling very, very alone.

* * *

"Mutants have to be what?"

"Registered." The TV was on mute, but the newspaper was spread out all over the dining-room table. The Bill demanding the registration of all mutants covered most of the front page.

Pyro scanned the article quickly, "They haven't passed it yet. Maybe it won't happen."

Mystique gave a derisive laugh. Pyro looked up at her.

"What are we going to do about it?"

Mystique shrugged. What could they do? This would be another mutant problem, another scandal, another media-hyping paper-seller. She could almost see the headlines already: Angry Mutants protest, Mutant community sends petition to government.

It had happened so many times before. And Magneto knew how to respond. A large group of angry people needed a leader, needed guidance, someone to channel their energy.

They needed Magneto, and he would be there.

Would he?

A small worm of doubt crept into her mind. Where was Magneto?

What if he didn't turn up?

What if…what if someone else did?

She felt the idea slide into her mind. Slowly, carefully she asked "Pyro, you were with Magneto before Alcatraz, weren't you?"

He looked up from the paper, "Yeah."

"When Magneto spoke to the crowd, when he formed the army?"

Pyro nodded again, looking confused.

"What, what did he say?"

They were all listening now, and to her great annoyance they still all looked slightly bemused.

"He just said that petitions were no use, and if they wanted change they should follow him."

She nodded and out of the corner of her eye saw the gleam of enlightenment spread across Gambit's face.

"Chere, you t'inking what I hope you are?"

She nodded, feeling very tempted to bang Pyro and Sabretooth's heads together for the bafflement that she saw in their eyes.

"You ever done it wit'out Magneto?"

"Done what?" Gambit lightly thwapped the back of Pyro's head.

"She gonna play de crowd. She gonna turn dem into her army"

"If we get there before Magneto…" Mystique thought aloud. Next to her Sabretooth leaned back into the sofa, relaxing in supreme obliviousness. Whatever was going on, they would tell him when they needed him.

"We could do it." Pyro said, his confidence growing as he recalled the wonderful feeling of having an entire horde of people hanging onto the words of the person next to you. "If you walk in there like you own the place no one will stop you."

"An' we know what to do if dey try." Gambit caught Pyro's eye and they both grinned.

Mystique bit her lip, letting her imagination drift over the scene. But it was a practical imagination, already filling in the details.

"Sabretooth?" Victor looked up enquiringly, "Can you drive the jet?"

He nodded, grunting an affirmative.

"Can you hover the jet in mid-air?"

Another nod. And her next question brought an admiring gasp from Gambit and a woop from Pyro; "Have we got any rope?"

"Mais, Cheri, dats good."

"We're gonna air-lift down into the crowd? Wow!"

Mystique smiled like a cat, the smooth confident sneer of a well kept predator. They would be there, protesting in their hundreds, a large group of leaderless people.

They would have a leader.

They would have her.

* * *

Scott lifted a hand up to the door handle and then paused, his hand resting on the smooth polished metal. Inside his head was a raging battle, a battle he had fought so many times before.

The Professor had once said that being a mutant was like walking a tightrope over an abyss. It was so easy to fall, so easy to let go, so easy…

Every argument he fought, every time he shouted at Wolverine, got exasperated with Bobby there was always the small voice in the back of his head saying: _Why are you doing this Summers?_

_Take of the glasses Summers. Take them off and there won't _be_ an argument._

The Professor had understood. He had seen inside Scott's mind, seen the other mind, the voice of the Cyclops.

He had to keep it under control, he had to keep within the rules. Because he knew, he _knew_ where that road led. You started for good reasons, ending an argument in the middle of a battle, blasting people who were too stupid to realise what you were doing for them. The glasses would come off more and more often…

And then you would start killing for bad reasons, because someone was in the way, because he didn't want to have to explain again, because he was annoyed, or hurt or angry.

Then before long you're blasting for no reason at all, just because you can.

His hand tightened on the door-knob. This was different. This was for a _perfect_ reason.

Toad was inside the cell. Toad was behind the door in front of him. Toad had killed Storm.

He almost wrenched the handle back at that thought. Every thought inside him was screaming for it, for him to go in there, and blast the guy to pieces. But slowly, because they still needed to find out where Magneto was hidden.

_He'll tell us._ Cyclops thought; _And god help him if he doesn't want to._

It was his memory of the Professor that kept him from opening the door. The Professor had trusted him, the Professor had taught him, trained him, and died smiling for him. To go in there now would make Xavier's death a sham, and his life a waste.

_It wouldn't even have to be you, _the treacherous little voice continued, _You could tell Wolverine where Toad is. You could even tell him not to hurt the prisoner. You could show him Storm's body and remind him about the Geneva Convention and no one can say it was your fault when he returns. The bloodstains will be on his claws._

This was why he kept to the rules. This was why he stayed on the straight and narrow with meticulous attention to detail. Without the group meetings, the organisation, the rules, Scott Summers would sink, down into the abyss.

Wolverine might snigger, Bobby might joke about the stick up his ass, but Scott felt that was a price worth paying to control his power.

So much power! To win any argument, to break through any material, to defeat any opponent…

And then to have to live in the real world, to deal with troublesome people and annoying arguments, to have to cope with the Anti-mutant leagues, with the government when _all the time _you knew that you could end it so easily, so quickly.

_Take the glasses off Summers._

His hand dropped to his sides, screwing into fists. It's not easy being Good.

"Scott?" It was Dr McCoy.

Scott took a deep shaky breath. "We caught him. The Toad. He's in the cell"

Hank nodded, a worried look briefly covering his face, "He might know about Magneto."

Scott nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak.

"He killed Storm." Hank murmured.

_Five minutes_, the little voice urged_. Just five minutes in there Summers. Hank won't begrudge it. He won't approve, but he'd let you do it. Look at his face, at the moment he'd stand outside the door and swear blind that he never heard a sound while you were in there_.

Start off using it for good reasons…

"You should question him." Scott said eventually, pretending not to notice Hank's look of mingled surprise and worry, "Keep the camera in the cell on at all times."

Dr McCoy nodded, and risked a small smile. "The Professor would have managed it better than me, but I'll try my best."

Scott nodded and turned abruptly, to head off down the corridor towards the Danger Room. Keep by the rules, stay on the rope, because once you let yourself fall, there's no turning back.

There's only the abyss.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, I introduce my characters, and then I kill them off. I IS TEH GUD AUTHOR. Storm has no character anyway (at least not in the movies) so no loss there


	17. Round and Round

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

A/N:_ Fear_ my depressingly bad knowledge of American politics.

Round and round

It was the same as any other demonstration Mystique had ever seen. Crowds, shouts, placards and a depressingly large number of people who seemed certain that waving a large sign outside a concrete building really would make a difference.

The jet hovered over the crowd. A few people had noticed it, but most were getting on with the business of serious placard-waving. Getting ready to be dropped into the crowd, Mystique adjusted the strap around her waist, courtesy of Gambit, Pyro and a quick raid on a local army base. She scowled slightly as her nervousness made her fingers blotch from blue to tan. She didn't like not being able to rely on her mutation, and she defiantly didn't like having to wear a simple black two piece swimsuit; a precaution in case her skin colour decided to return at an awkward moment.

She took a deep breath. This would be her first time alone, she first time she'd faced a crowd without being a step behind Magneto. She glanced at Gambit, who was gazing out the window, and Pyro, who was grinning inanely. This was her backup force.

"Ready?" At least her voice was steady.

"Mais oui."

"Yeah!"

Sabretooth nodded. The jet stopped in mid-air, helicopter blades whirring.

"Let us down slowly."

The crowd below fell silent as they descended. Mystique felt her chest constrict, there were so many of them, so many different people, all looking straight at her.

And suddenly she remembered Magneto, sitting next to the Professors desk with a bent paperclip circling around in front of him.

She remembered his voice, she could see his words.

"_The trouble with you Charles is that you persist in seeing a mob as a group of individuals."_

His fingers had moved gently through the air as the twisted paperclip danced for him.

"_There's only ever one person in a mob. One voice, one thought."_

Why had they been in the Professor's office? Had that been before Erik and Charles had argued? Had it been why they argued?

"_And when you hold their full interest in your hands, their hearts and minds will follow."_

Pyro's knees buckled slightly as they landed. Mystique slid the strap off her waist, graceful as a cat, and walked forward into the crowd, followed hastily by a rather-manic looking Pyro and a slightly worried Gambit.

The crowd parted to let her through. A couple of people near the back were still waving signs, but apart from that there was deathly silence. A spell had fallen over the crowd; it watched her with wide eyes.

It wouldn't last, but for now there was an opening. A single silent moment. _Her _moment.

"Mutants." She began. And then louder, injecting a note of scorn, "Mutants!"

The crowd swayed like a restless child. Pyro kept a finger on his flamethrower, ready to activate it if anything went wrong. Magneto had always stayed at the front of the crowd, Mystique was walking right into the middle of them, and he didn't like not knowing what was going on behind him.

"Mutants must be registered." Mystique stopped and turned slowly, to face the large concrete building that was now scurrying with frantic security forces. "They want to know who we are, where we live, what we can do."

Gambit pulled out the three of diamonds, tense and ready for action.

"We reserve the right to keep our privacy." The crowd roared and Mystique lifted her hands, feeling the sweldo?"

Pyro felt the fire rush through him. He was caught up in the mood of the crowd now, surfing high on adrenaline.

"Let's show them what we can do!"

This was the signal he'd been waiting for. Pyro didn't even see Gambit nod at him, before shooting twin streams of fire towards the building. They crashed together slightly above it, shooting sparks and causing a minor explosion as Gambits playing card flew into the centre of the inferno.

"Show them what we can do!" Mystique had to scream to be heard over the sound of the blast but her message got through. Every mutant who could, every mutant with power, hurled their anger at the building. Pyro saw energy-blasts, flashes of electricity, bolts of lightening, streaks of laser beams, water, rocks, small shafts of bone, everything that anyone could fling at the building.

Then Mystique was gliding back through the crowd, back to the front where they'd left the harnesses. They followed, Gambit leaning forward to hiss in her ear, "We goin'?"

She nodded. "We're going back to the jet, back to your place."

"What?" Pyro turned, confused. "We're leaving? But we've only just started!"

"Don't worry." They were rising now, and the crowd had fallen silent again, in front of the ruined building, staring up at them.

"We'll be back." The crowd roared its approval. "This is just a warning. A warning of what will happen if they mess around with us." She shot a glance at Pyro. "If they want to play with fire, they should be prepared to get burnt."

It was a wonderful feeling. Soaring back upwards through the air as Sabretooth hauled on the winch in the jet, with a crowd below cheering at the ruins of the building. Pyro waved as they got back into the jet, grinning crazily, flushed with success.

The crowd dispersed as the sirens started, and Pyro saw the fire-engine career madly round the corned towards the ruins. He couldn't help a small snigger. As if a fire-engine was any use against him!

* * *

Quicksilver stared at the floor feeling angry and humiliated. In front of him, Magneto paced back and forth, reading through the paperwork Pietro had snatched from Xaviers office.

"I told you to look for the mutant files."

"I said, there wasn't time. We'd barely got in when the Wolverine appeared."

"How did Wolverine know you were in there?"

Quicksilver shrugged, "He just came. Toad panicked and we jumped out of the window."

Magneto raised an eyebrow at the sulky young man standing in front of him, "Mortimer panicked?"

Quicksilver squirmed slightly under his gaze, "He wanted to get out."

Magneto turned away from him to flick through the stolen papers. "And then you left him behind."

"I thought you wanted the papers, it wouldn't have been much use if I'd got caught too."

Magneto sighed. No, the boy's actions had made perfect sense; it just meant that now his force consisted solely of Quicksilver and Juggernaut. Was this what he had come to? He'd moved worlds once, controlled armies, shaped destinies. Now he was reduced to only two followers; a paid muscle-man and his own son.

His eyes danced across the page, barely reading what was written. He was tired, cold and alone. Xavier had smiled as his body had turned to dust, and at that moment Magneto felt that he too could face death smiling.

His thoughts whirled, lost and confused: _We did so much and it all came to nothing, maybe it's time to finally let go._ _Look to the future; Quicksilver, Pyro, Rogue, they'll carry the flame._

_We were both flame-carriers, Charles and I. And in the beginning we both wanted the same thing, or at least we both wanted the same ending. The same outcome. _

_Why did I cast Mystique away? She understood me. She was my army. A true fighter. Who knows what she's doing now, maybe she's slunk away to the world she came from, the world of the alleyways, of the darkness, the gangs, the world she found Toad in._

_Toad. Mortimer Toynbee. Another true fighter. God knows what he's going through now. Or what he's been through in his past. He was half dead when Mystique found him. Half chain-whipped too by the look of him. Whimpering in a corner behind a pile of half-rotten trash cans._

Psychic ability.

_Sabretooth, where's he nowadays? Probably gone back to the criminal underworld, maybe even back to the army, maybe…wait...what was that…_

Quickly he threw his thoughts away, dragging his mind back to the present, and the two words his eyes had skimmed over, lying black and white on the page

Psychic ability.

Quicksilver had managed to pick up something useful after all. Flipping back a few pages Magneto realised that for the last few paged he'd been flipping through a file. A mutant file.

A mutant with psychic ability.

As far as Magneto was concerned, that meant only one thing: a mutant with the ability to use Cerebro. Xavier's greatest, and in Magneto's opinion, most underused weapon. The ability to find any mutant, any person, to know where they were, what they were doing…

His hands shook slightly, making the paper rustle in his hands. A machine with the power of Cerebro would be difficult to build, but it could be done. And, even better, he was the only one who could do it.

Only two people knew how Cerebro worked, and one of them had died smiling several months ago.

Now…how to find this mutant.

"Quicksilver!"

"What." The boy looked up, looking slightly hopeful at the rekindled interest in Magneto's eyes, "Were some of the papers useful?"

"Very useful. We need to find a mutant."

The boy frowned, "Toad?"

Magneto raised an eyebrow, "Toad can stay where he is for the time being. We have more important things to worry about."

"What are we going to do?"

Magneto smiled. Charles was dead but the flame still burnt bright. "We're going to build Cerebro."

* * *

Scott sat at the Professors chair, staring at the wood in front of him. Although he did not know it, his mind was tracing the same thoughts that Storm had faced: _How are we going to deal with this without the Professor._

The school. Magneto. The Mutant Registration Bill which even now was being argued over by the Senate. The students. The Anti-mutant propaganda. Teaching. Fighting. Toad, still locked in the cellars, still refusing to say much except that he and Quicksilver had broken in to steal some papers.

Next to him, Wolverine lit a cigar. "What are we gonna do?"

Scott shrugged, managing to keep his face impassive. "The school is the most important thing."

Wolverine raised an eyebrow. "Not Magneto? Not the bastard who killed Storm?"

"We need to keep teaching." Scott had not yet told Logan that Toad had been captured. "We need to keep providing safety for young mutants. Storm knew that."

"Yeah." Wolverine blew a small cloud of smoke out of the window, looking awkward. "But I guess she would have wanted to fight too."

"Scott, err, Mr Summers?" It was Bobby Drake, peering nervously around the door, with Colossus and Rogue behind him.

"Yes." Scott tried to smile but wasn't to sure it came out right. "What is it."

It was Rogue who answered. "Is the school still going to stay open?"

Scott nodded.

"It's just, if you needed any more X-men. I mean, we've all fought before and Warren's almost better…"

The word hung in the air. Wolverine glanced at Scott. "More X-men might be a good thing. That way we can deal with Magneto while you keep the school open."

There was silence for a bit as Scott thought. They were still young, but then again they were older than he had been when he'd first faced Magneto. Who would they be facing? Pyro, Sabretooth (Wolverine could deal with Sabretooth), Magneto and the Cajun mercenary. If they worked together, using each others strengths, it was feasible.

It was more than feasible, it was a proper plan. Scott grabbed it like a drowning man reaching for a lifebelt.

"Dr McCoy can take over as much of the teaching as he can manage. Logan, you'll deal with Magneto. I'll try and sort all this out." He waved his hand at the room and made a poor attempt at a joke, "It should be a bit easier now Magneto's stolen most of our paperwork."

They nodded and left, Wolverine following.

"Oh and Logan?"

He'd been thinking about this for a long time.

"We caught Toad. He's in the cellar."

Sometimes the inner Cyclops needs a chance to roar.

* * *

A/N: I do not like this chapter. I don't know why. Too introspective perhaps. And some of the sentences don't quite make sense. Ah well, keeps the story moving. The next chapter is all planned out and should be quite exciting.

Mystique is going comic book :) and Quicksilver is going Evo. And Scott is going…weird. But I am happy with my boys: Gambit, Pyro, Sabretooth and Toad. There is some cool Toad stuff coming up.

Meh, I still can't get Magneto's dialogue right. x( but I am happy with his thoughts.


	18. About A Toad

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics, Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

About a Toad

It wasn't until later that he realised just how much it had changed. A whole tide of events, a cascade of actions that were determined by one single, simple fact:

When Wolverine angrily burst into the cell, Toad was asleep.

Which meant that the first thing that Logan saw was not a snarling defiant killer but a young man curled up in the rescue position on the hard stone floor. The back of his shirt had ridden up slightly, his skin looked almost translucent in the pale light, and was covered with small scars.

Logan had been in street fights before. He knew what it took to cause scars like that: half a length of chain.

He stood, feeling slightly foolish, towering over the sleeping figure. Toad whimpered slightly in his sleep, curling into an even tighter ball.

The door swung back on its hinges, closing with a deafening clang that made them both jump. Toad was pulled roughly back into consciousness and as he glanced up at Wolverine there was flash of real fear that shone for a moment in his eyes…

Logan felt a stab of sympathy, and then an even greater wash of self-pity. What the hell was he doing here? Why was he standing in a cold damp cell preparing to beat the guts out of some kid just for being on the wrong side, just because Summers didn't have the moral nerve to do it himself?

Toad backed away until he hit the wall and then stood muscles tense, eyes alert. "What do you want?"

"You working for Magneto?" Hell he felt tired. Tired and fed-up. Things had been better in the steel-cage days. Simpler certainly. You got in the cage, you took a bit of a beating, and then you thrashed the other guy raw and moved on. No problems, no worries.

Now suddenly his world was full of teaching and politics and Cyclops's with moral identity crises. Unconsciously, he echoed the thoughts of Gambit; there was too much world involved.

Toad gave a slight sneer that almost hid his trembling fear, "No I'm working for the flying spaghetti monster."

"Don't get cocky kid." But his heart wasn't in it. He'd fought numerous times before, against younger opponents, weaker opponents, even opponents begging for mercy, but somehow this felt different. It felt…wrong, dirty even, to sit in a dark room and hit someone until they gave you the answer you wanted.

"You killed Storm." He wasn't even questioning now, just trying to find an excuse for what Scott wanted him to do.

Scott. Cyclops wanted this, not Logan. All Logan wanted was to do now was get as far away from the damn place as possible.

"She tried to kill me."

There was silence for a bit. Logan tried to muster up enough enthusiasm and rage to just hit the kid. Pretends it's a steel-cage fight, pretend he's facing you across the ring.

He didn't even feel angry any more.

"You ever been chain-whipped kid?"

Toad cowered against the wall, his eyes glowering but still wary, "What's it to you?"

Logan shrugged, leaning back against the door, "Saw the scars."

Toad gave him a slightly confused look. This was not the style of interrogation he was used too. None of the questions seemed to be leading anywhere, and Wolverine looked…odd. Bored. As if he personally didn't care what the outcome of the questioning was.

His feelings of confusion were not helped as Logan squatted down on the floor, tracing patterns in the dirt with his finger (but still keeping his eyes fixed on Toad) "Someone tried to do it to me once."

Toad sniggered, "Can they still walk?"

Logan shrugged again, "I didn't stop to check. That was back before I joined this whole gig."

Toad kept silent. His eyes narrowed slightly, uncertain whether this was some sort of trap, but Logan seemed almost oblivious.

"I was a steel-cage fighter, ever seen one of them?"

Toad nodded. "Once. In a bar. I must have picked up about fifty dollars that day."

Logan raised an eyebrow, "You bet?"

"Nah, stole."

"I travelled round a lot. Moving on whenever trouble started."

"Trouble?"

"Yeah. Wound-healing isn't as inconspicuous as you might think. People start asking questions after a while."

"Seems like a great mutation to me." Toad muttered.

There was silence for a while. Somewhere in the distance a door clanged shut. Toad frowned.

"Who else have you got locked up in here?"

"That would be Hank. His lab's down here somewhere."

Toad nodded, filing the information away for future use.

Logan's wondered vaguely whether he was being indiscreet and then suddenly realised that he didn't give a damn.

"Cyclops wants me to smash you up until you tell us where Magneto is." Might as well get down to business.

"I don't know where he is." There was a slight note of panic in his voice that made Logan grin, "I was unconscious when they took me there, and Magneto drove us out in a lorry."

"So Magneto isn't in the same place you were before, huh?"

Toad's eyes darted about the room, possibly looking for an escape route as he tried desperately to think of a way not to give away Mystique's hiding place, "Err…no."

"And you don't know where he is now?"

Another glance around the room, "No."

"But he's with the Brotherhood?"

Toad thought quickly. "I don't know."

Logan raised an eyebrow, "You don't know?"

"No one tells me anything." Toad gabbled, hoping he was making sense, "I just do what Magneto says."

More silence. Toad was starting to feel twitchy. If Wolverine was here to question him, why hadn't he started? If he wasn't, why the hell was he here?

"You went to fetch Magneto…" Wolverine began slowly, "And you got knocked out."

"Yeah." Toad nodded desperately. "You whapped me over the head with half a chair. And then when I woke up I was someplace new."

Logan raised an eyebrow. Toad gulped. Careful, careful.

"Uh, I didn't know where I was. And then Magneto dragged me out and stuck me in the lorry."

"He told you to come here?"

"He told me to do what the other guy said."

There had been someone else, Logan remembered. A silver haired kid who'd appeared for a couple of seconds.

"So, far as you know Magneto might not be with the brotherhood at all."

Damn, Wolverine wasn't meant to be this smart!

"I don't know." When in doubt, stick to 'I don't know.' It saved the inconvenience of lies which might be forgotten. And there was the added bonus that everyone knew Magneto wasn't good at giving out information; 'I don't know' was believable in almost all situations.

Almost all.

"You don't know much do you."

Toad shrugged. There wasn't really an answer to that one.

"Where are the brotherhood?"

"I told you, I don't-"

"Where _were_ they? Before you went to get Magneto."

Ah. This was the dangerous bit. He couldn't shrug this one off. Either a direct lie or opt for the truth, and the truth would make life a lot more difficult for Mystique…

Toad was good at lying. And Wolverine was not the Professor.

"We rented a flat. And kind of moved around a bit." He had a go at looking lost and vulnerable, "I don't know where they are now."

Logan gave him a long hard stare. Toad managed a weak smile. "That's all I know."

Abruptly, Wolverine stood up. Toad cowered back, but, without even looking at him, the large mutant left the cell, slamming the door behind him. Toad sunk down in the corner, his heart racing like mad. What the hell had that been all about?

* * *

"Well?"

"He doesn't know."

Scott frowned sceptically, "He doesn't know _anything_?"

"He's just a kid." Angrily, Logan shoved on a jacket, heading towards the door.

"But…wait…where are you going?" Scott hurried after him. "You're telling me that you're convinced by whatever story he spun you?"

Logan shrugged, marching out through the main gates of the mansion, "You want information one-eye, you go ask the kid."

"Logan?"

Wolverine swung a leg over the motorcycle, kicking at the engine. Scott looked confused, or possible slightly hurt, he couldn't really tell behind the visor.

"Find someone else to do your questioning Summers."

"Logan, I wasn't…I mean, what about Magneto?"

"Magneto was never my problem." The motorcycle roared into life and Scott took a step backwards.

"What about Rogue." It was a low blow and Scott knew it, but he didn't feel he could afford to loose any more X-men.

Logan froze, then gave a shrug, pushing his conscience to the very back of his mind. "She's got plenty of friends. And she's old enough to take care of herself."

"She's younger than Toad is…" But Scott's words were lost in the dust of the motorcycle as it sped off down the road.

* * *

Pyro swung his legs onto the table, opening a packet of crisps as he did so. "Are we on the news?"

"Should be." Mystique called from upstairs, hacking into various files in a fruitless looking-for-Toad session.

"Where did the remote go?"

"I left it on top of the TV."

Grumbling, Pyro swung himself off the sofa. What was it with girls and remotes? Didn't they understand that the whole point of having one was so that you could use it from a distance, away from the TV?

He grumbled quietly though, because it's never a wise idea to complain loudly about anyone with the ability to twist your arms off.

"Wooha! We're on!"

Gambit sauntered out of the kitchen and squinted critically at his image on the screen, "I don' look too bad."

"We're on TV!"

Gambit rolled his eyes good-naturedly, nodding at Sabretooth who was still eating, "Hey, remember de days when we still t'ink it's a good t'ing to have pictures of us all over de place."

Sabretooth grunted, shooting a bored disinterested glance at the TV before turning back to his meal.

Pyro was still caught up in the basking glow of infamy. "When can we do it again?"

"When de boss say."

Pyro turned back to the newsreader, "Appealing for information? They want to find out more about us!" A sudden worrying thought scuttled across his mind, "They don't know where we are, do they?"

"No." The answer was from Sabretooth.

"Ah." Pyro brightened up at that. "Look, we're all over the papers too! There's a picture of us on the front page, except you can't see me because some guy's throwing rocks right in front."

Gambit scooped up the paper as Pyro relaxed in front of the TV, blissfully enjoying what to him was a new sensation. "Ha, why are they searching for us _there_, that's not even close!"

Gambit leafed through the paper idly, grinning at Pyro's extended monologue.

"Is that the best picture of me they could find? My hair looks all wrong. Ah, you can't even see my flamethrower. Hey Gambit, you look cool. Wha-oh it's the jet. Haha, 'Mystery jet driver' and all they have is a little blurry picture."

Gambit froze suddenly, staring at the paper.

"It doesn't even look much like Sabretooth. And that tree cuts out half the propeller, it makes the jet look a weird. Hey look, they're playing the video clip again, this bit's cool."

Quickly, Gambit scanned over the article. He bit his lip, considering. What Mystique didn't know wouldn't hurt her…and besides, this was _meant_ as a challenge for Magneto.

"Kaboom! Wow, that was really good, did you notice how I got the angle so the two fireballs met just above the archway? Ha, there goes your card Gambit; it looks kind of small from here."

Pyro faltered, realising that the Cajun's attention was elsewhere, "What is it? Did they find out where we are?"

Wordlessly Gambit spread the paper over the table. Sabretooth craned to look. Sandwiched in between an advert for washing machines and an article about a bankrupt stockbroker was a small picture of Toad and what looked like a letter:

_Magneto. We need to talk. The Professor once told me that both you and he fought for the rights of all mutants. Things in the political spectrum are moving fast, there may be a way we can act together for mutual benefit. Mortimer Toynbee is being held captive at the mansion, we will release him if you arrive and wish to talk. Scott Summers._

Pyro frowned. "Why is Cyclops writing to Magneto?"

The other two didn't seem to hear him. Sabretooth shrugged, "Scott?"

Gambit gave a grin, "Looks like pretty-boy Summers took over de mansion."

"Tell Mystique." Sabretooth bared his teeth briefly, sensing Gambits reluctance, "It's about Toad; she'll want to know."

Gambit nodded at Pyro, "Go get Mystique."

"Why me?" But he went anyway. He couldn't argue with either of them, and besides, he was beginning to get used to taking orders.

Mystique was in the study, staring intently at the computer screen, leafing through files which looked fairly top secret to Pyro. He took a deep breath, "Uh, we've found Toad."

She looked up sharply, "Toad?"

"Yeah. Gambit saw him in the paper.

For a moment she seemed almost frightened, "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, well, I guess so. He's at the X-mansion. They tend to treat people alright there." He thought for a moment, "That is, if you don't want to think for yourself or do anything interesting or…"

She waved him into silence and strode off down the stairs, Pyro hurrying in her wake, "Why is it in the paper?"

"They want to speak to Magneto." Gambit showed her the relevant article and she read through it quickly.

"What do we do?" Sabretooth wanted to know.

Mystique stared at the paper, the blue rippling slightly unevenly over her skin as it always did nowadays when she wasn't concentrating on keeping her mutation stable. "They want to speak to Erik, which means they're running out of options."

Pyro glanced at Gambit, puzzled.

"Summers is running out of options." Mystique repeated, half to herself.

"So what do we do?" Sabretooth repeated.

Mystique smiled. It was not a nice smile. "We give him some new ones."

* * *

Quick little A/N: This is probably the first chapter I've been happy with for a long time. Go me! Wolverine has not gone. Don't worry; from now on I will be very careful indeed what I do with the characters. :p


	19. A Very Strange Enchanted Boy

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics, Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

A Very Strange Enchanted Boy

The people lived here. _Those_ people. They usually weren't called anything except _those_ people. There were stories about them: that they came following a dream, that they stole jobs, that they deserved to be sent right back where they came from…

Indio knew the stories. He was not convinced by them. He hadn't had a dream for over five years now, and he didn't work. His mother did, but she did a job that nobody else wanted to do, for wages that nobody else would take. He hadn't seen her for five year either, but from the stories she'd told of the country they'd come from he didn't think he'd done anything bad enough to deserve that…

They called it the ghetto, although more often they called it _that _place. Indio heard as they walked by, not just the words that they said but the other words too. The words that they didn't say, the words that hummed in his ear like Mrs Nardo's radio did after a rainstorm, the words that didn't go away when he put his hands over his ears. He heard them all the time.

Mrs Nardo said he was mad. Or rather she _said_ that he was a poor young boy who needed feeding, and so polite too, not like her own sons, but her other voice, the one that filtered into his brain through the white dots of static said: _That boy's mad, no wonder his mother threw him out._

When Indio was twelve, he began to get angry.

He knew what happened to the angry young men. They all hung around in the alleyways talking together, kicking at half-broken bottles. The words in their mouths were words of hatred and the words in their heads were scared and worried and lonely. Sometimes they would meet in the dark, and Indio would follow them, silent as a rat, creeping through the alleyways until they arrived at their destination.

A store usually. Sometimes a house. And the angry young men would shout and scream and some of them would carry bent iron bars and large lengths of wood. There would be damage, glass flying, and Indio would find a safe place and crouch in it, because he didn't want to be seen when the police arrived.

The police said things like: "Another lot," and "God damn immigrants." But the other thoughts, the thoughts only Indio heard, were strong and stood out in Indio's mind as he huddled in his hiding place.

The other thoughts said: _God damn Latino's come over here, taking our jobs…_

Which confused Indio, because the angry young men didn't have jobs. That was why they were angry.

When Indio was thirteen, he first met the Silent Man.

Everyone else carried their thoughts around with them, like a trail of silver static that crept into Indio's mind and made his days a torturous noisy route through hell. Into this world of noisy thought, the world which Indio usually lived, walked the Silent Man, with no thoughts at all, no silver-grey noise to fill up his head.

He had a funny sort of helmet on. Indio wondered if he was a policeman.

He looked straight at Indio, who stood staring at the man whose thoughts he could not see.

It annoyed him. He was used to having the edge over other people, to be able to see them thinking about things before they did them. With this man, he had no power, he had no advantage.

"Indio?"

He blinked, trapped in the man's stare.

The Silent Man frowned, "You don't look very much like your picture."

Who had a picture of him?

There was a sudden swirl of air, an empty chocolate wrapped rose up and spun around Indio's legs, and suddenly there was someone else standing behind him, a younger man with silver-white hair wearing an expression of bored contempt.

"Is this him?"

The Silent Man gave a curt nod. Indio could not see the face of the man behind him, but he could hear his thoughts clearly enough:

_Won't you ever acknowledge I do anything right? I found the papers, got you this mutant, and you still act like I'm worth nothing? Please, father, can't I do anything you'll even thank me for?_

Mutant? Indio had heard about mutants. They were another thing that made the angry young men angry. _God damn_ _mutants come here, taking our jobs…_

"Indio?" The Silent Man bent down to his level. Indio backed away slightly, "Do you know what mutants are."

He nodded, still listening to the thoughts from behind him.

_Are you giving him the lecture here? Get Juggernaut to knock him out and take him back. Save the words till later._

Indio's eyes widened in fear.

"You are a mutant Indio."

He took off, running down the street, twisting and turning through all the secret places he had found, ducking under archways, sliding through half open doors, until he stopped, panting, against the side of Mrs Nardo's house.

Had he lost them?

_Nice try sucker!_

The silver haired young man appeared right next to him. Startled, Indio swallowed a cry and sped off again, catching the tail end of a thought as he sped off through the grafitti-lined alleyways.

_Can't outrun me._

He tried, he tried until his muscles were aching and sore, running the fastest and the furthest he'd ever run. All the time, every time he stopped, every time he paused for breath, the young man appeared next to him, leaning casually against the wall.

"You're quite fast for a kid." _How long is this guy gonna keep running for?_

"You're…you're a mutant." Indio panted. He didn't think he could run for much longer.

"Yeah welcome to the club."

"I…I'm a mu-mutant too?" His lungs were on fire, he felt as if his heart were about to burst, and yet the young man next to him looked merely bored.

"You should have listened to the lecture from the boss, I'm no good at this sort of thing." _Huh, as far as Magneto's concerned I'm no good at anything. I'm so hungry, why didn't we stop for lunch? Thank god the kid's finally stopped, at least I didn't loose him._

Indio shook his head to try to get rid of the static. It never worked, but he did it anyway, and Mrs Nardo would look at him pityingly thinking: _Mad as a flee-bitten dog._

Indio knew that it was wrong to go with strangers, that people who asked young boys to come with them usually had what Mrs Nardo called 'evil intentions'. If he went with them, bad things would happen.

Worse that the police? Worst than the way the angry young men acted towards people who disagreed with them? And he was a mutant, the angry young men didn't like mutants.

These people were mutants, the Silent Man and his son.

"We want your help, you're a special mutant." _Argh I'm starving. Too much running I guess, high metabolism or whatever. Come on kid, let's get out of here, maybe I might get a nod of acknowledgement from my father if I bring you back out._

Indio gave a grudging nod. He was fairly certain that bad things would happen to him whatever he ended up doing. Mrs Nardo's sympathy was getting harder and harder to earn nowadays, now that he was growing older, and she was his only source of food.

Somewhere out there, he knew there was a way to use his mutation to make him rich. Or if not rich, at least wealthy enough to have somewhere to live and food that tasted OK. Maybe these people would show him how. And the man in front of him certainly wasn't thinking any Evil Intentions.

"We can…umm…feed you. Yeah, there's lots of food where we live." _Man I'm starving, I hope we stop for a pizza on the way back,_ "And there's a bed and a shower, so you can wash and stuff." _How else am I meant to sell the kid this kind of crap? What does Magneto say?_ "Umm, you will be a God among Insects." _I sound pathetic, this is so corny._

Confused and cynical maybe, but there was nothing bad in his thoughts, unless you counted the worrying earlier mention of something called Juggernaut.

Indio was alone, lost in a world that had no place for him, teetering on the edge of the age of anger. He made his decision.

"I'll come with you."

"Great!" _Woohoo! Finally, maybe now we can get something to eat before by blood-sugar level goes critical. Huh, I bet he wouldn't even miss me if I dropped dead, I mean I've only been the most important person in this mission. _"Umm, how do we get back from here?"

* * *

It felt strange walking back to the X-mansion. Seeing the ivy-covered walls stretching out in front of him, hearing the long-forgotten sound of a working school, the shouts from the basketball pitch, the whispered drone of a lesson coming from an open upstairs window. Pyro even remembered which window had been his dormitory. If he squinted very hard he could imagine he saw, scratched in the stone wall under the window the letters S.J.A.

It brought back a lot of memories, and it rather surprised him that most of them were happy ones. The school had been a place of security, a shelter from the family problems he'd left behind. As he approached the gates, he could even remember the first time he'd arrived, in a baseball shirt too big and jeans too small clutching a battered canvass bag with everything he owned stuffed inside.

He'd arrived as St. John Allerdyce. He was returning as Pyro.

The childhood nostalgia faded away as he saw the group in front of the gates, to be replaced with a slight tingle of fear. He sidled slightly closer to Gambit, who was looking around appreciatively.

"Have you ever been here before?" Pyro whispered.

The Cajun shrugged, "Once. Long time ago. Hasn't changed tho'"

They'd gathered in front of the gates, all in their X-men uniforms, which suddenly made Pyro feel a little scruffy, next to the gleaming black uniforms the brotherhood looked distinctly amateur. Scott was standing in front, Behind him was Bobby, wearing the same look of determined bewilderment Pyro remembered from the fight.

Colossus was there too, along with Rogue and Warren. All his old school friends. For a few seconds, Pyro had the fleeting expression that he was standing on the wrong side, he should be over there, standing with them…

He pushed the feeling aside. He had new friends now. Gambit, Mystique, Toad maybe. Even Sabretooth. They wouldn't exactly die for him but Pyro had a feeling that Gambit would happily risk a fair amount to help him if he got into trouble.

Alright, maybe more of a hope than a feeling.

He wanted so desperately to impress Gambit. He'd never felt like that for any of his teachers back at the X-mansion.

They stopped, facing the group in front of them. Pyro noticed, slightly nervously, that they were outnumbered. At least the Wolverine wasn't here.

Scott spoke first. "Where is Magneto?"

"Where is Toad?" As Mystique spoke, Pyro noticed Gambit slip a card out from his belt.

"He is safe…for now. We asked for an audience with Magneto."

Mystique's eyes narrowed. For a moment Pyro thought she was going to hit him, but then she smiled and gave a small shrug. "I don't know where Magneto is."

Whatever answer Scott expected, it hadn't been that. Pyro would have given the world to see the expression properly behind the ruby coloured quartz lens. "You don't know?"

Mystique strode purposefully past him, "Are you going to let me in?"

Unfortunately she chose the side Colossus was guarding (Pyro was fairly willing to bet that Bobby would have folded). He stood in front of her, cold, metallic and impassive.

"Get this walking tin-can out of my way."

Colossus gave a pointed look at Scott, who nodded. Pyro kept his eyes glued to the floor as he passed them, he didn't want to catch anyone's eye. It wasn't that he was ashamed as such; it was just that facing old school friends can be hard when you're not sure whether you'll be trying to kill them in a few minutes time.

Mystique walked quickly into the lounge (oh God the table-football was still here, and the collection of old dog eared books. He remembered once going to page 25 of every book and highlighting all the letter X's for a reason that had made sense at the time). A couple of students were hanging around, but Scott curtly ordered them out, shutting all the doors as they left.

They were alone now. Mystique lounged rather stylishly on the faded sofa, with the brotherhood standing behind her. The X-men stayed near the door. Pyro repressed the urge to see if they still had the ancient copy of "Little House on the Prairie" that he'd brought with him when he arrived.

It had been his mother's favourite book.

Once again, Scott broke the silence. "Do you have any idea where Magneto is?"

Mystique shook her head. "Toad is one of ours."

"He was working for Magneto." Scott frowned when she shrugged in reply. "Are you telling me he wasn't even in contact with you?"

"I haven't heard a word from him since I was shot with the cure." It wasn't strictly true, until Magneto's own curing they had kept in contact via Gambit but Scott was not likely to know that.

Mystique continued, still sounding slightly bored, although her eyes looked anything but, "I was sorry to hear about the Professor."

Scott twitched, ever so slightly.

"It's nice to see that you've taken over. You always were his young protégé."

"Storm should have been in charge." The words were hard enough to say, Scott felt them sticking in his throat. Mystique was making him feel nervous; not least by the way she was acting as if she owned the damn place.

She had worked with Magneto, who in the beginning had worked with Xavier. Perhaps she had more right to the mansion than he did.

_Take the glasses off, Summers. It would make this all so much easier._

He closed his eyes, feeling mercifully glad that no one could see them behind the visor. "What do you want Mystique."

She sat up on the sofa, suddenly business-like. "I want Mortimer back."

He nodded, wondering if there was any way he could refuse other than the one that he knew he could never take.

"And I want to help you."

That made him grin, although there was no humour in the smile. "You mean you want us to help you. I have been keeping up with the news. You blew up a building."

"That was a statement."

"Over here, we call it terrorism."

She crossed her legs slowly and Scott wondered briefly if she was trying to seduce him. He couldn't actually remember a time when he'd wanted a woman less, not without going back to at least third grade.

"Do you want to be registered Summers? Do you want to have them keeping tabs on you, like a pet?"

It was as if the other occupants of the room had disappeared. Scott took a deep breath. Time to make the Professor proud. "There are ways to stop mutant registration without blowing things up."

"Yes." She smirked, "They don't work."

_Take the glasses off! You heard her: talk doesn't work. That's what she thinks! When dealing with someone like that, is it wrong to think the same? Fight fire with fire._

He actually raised a hand to his visor, watching with a slight thrill of power as Mystique's lazy smile turned rigid. He imagined a forest fire, a soaring, towering inferno, with the fire-fighters using not water but fire to fight back. Streams of flame roared from the pumps as the inferno grew higher and higher…

Scott closed his eyes again, it made it slightly easier. "The diplomatic lines are still open. Hank is working on it."

"This way is quicker." Mystique pointed out, but she was wary of him now.

"The quickest thing of all would be to turn the entire human race into cinders." And it could be done, he knew that.

"Yes." Behind Mystique Pyro grinned, making the smile slightly manic as he caught Bobby's eye on him. Bobby looked slightly pained, and then looked away quickly to stare at a small hole in the carpet.

It made Pyro deflate slightly, along with the realisation that the battle of wills and morals going on between Cyclops and Mystique was no nearing any form of conclusion.

He let his gaze wander over the others. So these were the new X-men? Rogue was deadly enough, but only at close quarters. Relatively easy to take down at a distance, Gambit would manage it if he couldn't.

It shocked him slightly to realise he was planning the easiest way to kill his former friends. But they were enemies now. Unless the leaders managed to resolve their differences they would end up in combat.

Angel, no problem. Pyro ran his finger over his lighter, smirking. Zap, instant fried chicken.

Colossus, that would be the difficult one. Pyro wasn't sure whether he would burn, melt maybe? What effect would Gambits charged cards have? Could Sabretooth fight someone who was effectively wrapped in aluminium? Wouldn't his claws get blunt?

Bobby he'd fought before. But he hadn't had Gambit with him then.

And finally Scott, who as far as Pyro was concerned, was pretty unbeatable unless you caught him by surprise. Pyro wondered yet again where Wolverine had got too. That would be another unbeatable one, how could you defeat a man who was practically immortal?

Back in the real world Scott was remaining stubborn, "There must be something you know about Magneto? Some information you can give us in return for Toad."

Mystique's expression was unreadable, "I don't know where he is Summers."

"Then why come here, what were you going to-"

"But I can find out."

Pyro frowned, and then folded up in agony as, behind the sofa, Gambit's fist slammed into his stomach.

"Is he alright?" Scott looked concerned, or maybe suspicious. Pyro tried hard not to throw up all over the floor.

"Stomach cramps." Gambit lied "Is dere a kitchen aroun'?"

Grabbing his shoulder, Gambit manoeuvred him out of the room, down a short corridor and into the large kitchen. Doubling over, Pyro retched into the sink, one hand clutching his stomach. Gambit watched impassively, leaning against a shelving unit.

"What the hell was that for?" Pyro asked, as soon as he felt capable of speaking.

"Homme, you good at fighting, but your face…" Gambit shrugged. "She's goin' to feed Summers a whole load of lies, don' want you dere watchin' and reactin'."

"She was lying?"

"'Course. She want Mortimer back."

"Does she…" Pyro frowned, feeling slightly disgusted at the images his brain was presenting him with, "She doesn't…love him or anything, does she?"

Gambit smiled, "Ma frien', dere's more then one kin' of love. Mystique pick him up when he was on'y fifteen. She cares for him."

Pyro tried to imagine a fifteen year old Toad and failed. He suddenly felt a stab of jealousy, Toad had had Mystique, while he'd had no one. And was his face really so easy to read?

"You alright?" Gambit looked concerned.

His stomach was still hurting like mad. "I'm fine."

Gambit nodded, folding his arms over his chest, "Didn't t'ink I hit that hard."

Pyro was suddenly very, very glad that he'd never faced Remy LeBeau in combat. A helpless wave of panic rushed briefly over him: Gambit, Sabretooth, even Toad had so many combat experiences he didn't; they'd been knocked about by life while he'd lived a sheltered existence in the mansion.

Just like the new X-men.

"Homme, I got somet'ing to tell you."

"What." Gambit was looking uncharacteristically serious.

"Well, you know why I stay wit Magneto?"

Cautiously Pyro shook his head. Gambit looked slightly awkward.

"He pay me."

"Ah."

"Now I don' mind doin' a favour for Mystique, she's helped me out lots an' its all fun…except the money's runnin' out."

Pyro had a feeling he knew where this was going. He didn't want to hear, he didn't want things to change.

"Soon as Toad gets back." Gambit nodded at Pyro's small frown, "Homme, Mystique will get dat boy back if she has to pull Summers to pieces. And den Gambit's off back to de ol' Bayou."

"You're leaving?"

"Need de money. Don' worry, I'll be back. Mystique knows, dats the thing about Mercenaries. Need pay or dey get stroppy."

"I don't want you to go." Pyro said stupidly. It came out sounding even more childish than he'd thought it would and he stared at the floor, angry, upset and embarrassed. This wasn't how internationally acclaimed mutant fighters were meant to act.

"Don' worry. You'll be fine, even Sabretoot' says, you fight good."

"Sabretooth said that?"

Gambit nodded, grinning at the amazed expression on Pyro's face. "Jus' like I say chere, it so easy to tell what you're t'inking. Don' even need a psychic."

"When will you be back?"

"Soon as I'm rich." He gave a short laugh. "Hopefully not too long."

Toad cowered as the door clanged open.

"Mortimer?"

He looked up, unable to completely believe the voice. "Mystique…how?"

Her expression was unreadable. "Don't say a word until we get home."

He nodded.

* * *

"What did you tell Cyclops?"

They were back at Gambit's house. The Cajun had gone upstairs to pack, Toad had collapsed gratefully onto the sofa, and was now happily immersed in a tub of ice-cream that Sabretooth, in a sudden attack of altruism, had laid out for him.

Mystique shrugged, giving a lazy smile. "Some rubbish about Magneto having a safe-house. Nothing important."

Toad sniggered. Mystique turned on him at once. "I assume you know where he really is?"

Toad nodded. "Abandoned warehouse, just outside New York."

"Who does he have with him?"

"Hardly anyone. The Juggernaut managed to survive somehow and, guess who else he's dragged up."

Sabretooth narrowed his eyes at the mention of Juggernaut. Mystique raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"Quicksilver."

"His son?" Gambit called in a surprised voice from the bedroom, "I didn't know he trusted dat boy with anyt'ing."

"Yep. Quicksilver, Juggernaut and Magneto." Toad stared bitterly into the empty ice-cream carton, "I guess I'm not needed."

"What's he trying to do…" Mystique gave a frustrated sigh.

"Rebuild Cerebro." Toad looked faintly shocked at the sudden look of surprise on their faces. "Wha- didn't I say? He's almost finished building it, now he's looking for a mutant to work it. That's what me and Quicksilver were after."

Mystique gazed at him blankly for a fraction of a second before sliding quickly off the sofa and heading over to the telephone, watched by three pairs of confused eyes.

"This is the X-mansion, how can I help you?"

"Get off the phone Angel-boy and get me Scott Summers!"

* * *

Haha cliffy! I think. Anyway, the good thing is that all that time sans internet gave me plenty of time to think of what's going to happen next. So…there will actually be a plot instead of me doing waffly character stuff while I try to work out what happens next :p

Hmm. Squints at chapter. The last chapter was better. This one has a sudden shift in mood at the point when I came back from holiday (just before Gambit punches Pyro). Next update will be as soon as I can get back on the internet, hopefully no longer than a week.


	20. Secrets and Lies

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics, Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

A/N: It has been pointed out (by a particularly astute reviewer) that the aeronautical device owned by the brotherhood has a horrible tendency to morph between a jet and a helicopter at regular intervals. In the actual film I think it's a helicopter, but I changed it into a jet and then forgot and gave it magical helicopter blades. I need a jet to get them to places fast, and will try to remove the helicopter blades :) Maybe at some point Toad and Sabretooth will 'improve' it, thus explaining any anomalies (because it is starting to annoy me, and probably you as well).

Secrets and Lies

There was food, just like the silver-haired boy had promised. He even met the dreaded Juggernaut (whose mind was practically empty apart from random thoughts about girls and beer). They let him eat and rest before showing him into a large circular room with a chair on a platform in the middle of it.

There were still no evil intentions in their minds (although obviously he couldn't see the mind of the Silent Man). The boy was excited, and from his thoughts Indio gathered that this was some sort of machine that they were going to teach him to work.

He sat in the chair and the Silent Man put a slightly-large helmet over his head. For a moment he panicked, wondering if it were a sort of electrical chair, but the boy wasn't thinking any thoughts of death. Instead the machine seemed to be a searching device, although what they were searching for the silver haired boy didn't say.

"It can find any mutant." The Silent Man explained, bending down to speak to him. "All you have to do is think of them and concentrate."

"I don't know any other mutants." He said nervously, picking up the white-static from the boy behind them. _Don't concentrate too hard or you'll finish them off. Father said the first time Xavier tried it he almost made father's head explode._

"Don't worry, we'll give you someone to practise on." Indio really wished he could hear what the Silent Man was thinking. His tone of voice was worrying, and tinged with a slight amusement that made Indio feel nervous.

_Who, Toad? Yeah, use the Toad he's pretty expendable._

"What happens if I concentrate too hard?" Indio whispered.

"Quicksilver, leave us please." Any mental reply the boy might have given to Indio's question was swamped by feelings of enraged teenage righteousness, which faded as he stomped out of the room.

It was funny being in a room alone with the Silent Man. Never before had he been in a situation when he could hear no silver-static thought-voices at all. His mind felt oddly emptied; there was a funny buzzing in his ears.

A picture was thrust into his hands, cut from some sort of official document. "This is the man we want you to find."

"Will I hurt him?" Indio asked, staring at the picture, wondering how on earth he was going to bluff his way through this.

The Silent Man hesitated for a fraction of a second, "No irreparable damage will be done."

"But it will hurt?" The sentence had sounded suspicious, but also truthful.

"If you concentrate you will find him. Close your eyes."

Indio obeyed; he didn't want to anger the man.

"Now open them, and find him."

He opened his eyes and gasped. There were people everywhere, white and red shapes, blurring in and out of focus, thousands upon thousands of faces, lives. To pick up one from the millions, to separate a single point from the blur…

"How do I find him?"

He could barely hear the voice that whispered into his ear, "Concentrate."

* * *

"Scott, is that you?"

"Mystique?" Scott sounded wary, "What is it."

"I know where Magneto is."

"You told us. In a safe-house in Boston. We're working on the details now, should be able to get the jet over…"

"Don't mess around Summers, I span you a pretty tale an hour ago. I've just asked Toad and now I know exactly where he is and what he's doing."

There was a short silence at the other end of the line. "And why should we believe you now?"

"He's rebuilding Cerebro." That was it. That was the root of the problem.

"So?"

"So! Summers, Cerebro is the most powerful weapon the Professor ever invented. If Magneto has it then he's won. He can build it, he's done it before, and now he's looking for a mutant to work it."

In the silence that followed Mystique envisioned herself banging Scott's head against a table as hard as she could,

"But…Cerebro isn't a weapon."

She took a deep, calming breath. "Do you know what Cerebro means? It means power. The power to know where all your allies, and your enemies, are. At any time, any place, you can find any person in the whole world."

"But the Professor would never use it to-"

"Summers you cannot fail to realise the potential of that thing. Magneto knew, he always knew, that while the Professor had Cerebro we had no chance, no chance to work against him at all. The Professor got the school, the jet, and the greatest weapon, why do you think he's been so successful when we haven't?"

That made him think.

"Didn't it ever occur to you that the only times the brotherhood managed to get even close to achieving anything was when you _didn't_ have Cerebro? When you couldn't use it?

"Summers, if we don't band together before he starts it working we have no chance at all."

More silence. How long did he need to think? To Mystique it was frustratingly clear.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sabretooth appear at the end of the hallway.

"Mystique…you've lied to us before…"

She slammed the phone down with a scream of rage, the first time she'd lost her temper properly for over five years. She looked up to meet Sabretooth's eyes staring reproachfully down at her.

"What." She snapped, trying to regain her former composure. There was just something about perfect, cosseted boy-scout Summers that irritated her beyond belief.

Sabretooth gave a small grunt. "We're siding with him then?"

Mystique gave a slight gulp._ What have I done._

_Oh God what have I done._

The panic washed over her. It was the mention of Cerebro that had set the alarm bells off. She'd thought: _I must find an ally_, and turned straight back to Scott, who'd seemed willing to work with her. She was still angry with Magneto, he'd pushed her aside, he'd dropped her as no longer useful.

_He uses people_

_But I knew that. I knew it when I joined him. And that's why I joined him, because I knew I always would be useful. It was a partnership of mutual benefit, none of this stupid loyalty 'even if you're worthless I'll stick by you' crap._

Next to her the phone began to ring again.

_He's stuck now. His son and the Lump of the Century are all he has left. But with Cerebro he could do…anything._

_Whose side do you want to be on Mystique?_

Slowly she picked up the receiver. "Yes?"

"Mystique? This is Scott…umm."

Magneto needed her, but now, Scott needed her too. She grinned as he said them, the fatal words; the words of power:

"Mystique, what should we do?"

There was no loyalty, no trust, between her and Magneto. But there was something else. Something less binding, more fickle, but still just as strong.

They knew each other. They worked best together, not through any silly notions of team-building but simply because they had worked together for so long, so often.

Between her and Scott there was nothing but a history of mistrust and enmity.

_Magneto uses useful people. But I can be useful again. I can't win his trust, but I can win his admiration_._ I can't win anything from Summers._

She told Scott what to do. And then she told Sabretooth to get the jet and stick Toad in the navigator's seat.

"Where are we going?" Sabretooth wasn't too sure what was going on.

"Magneto." She smiled at his sudden look of confusion. "Where else would we go?"

She had a plan now, a plan that, strangely enough, wasn't one Scott would be particularly happy with.

'_You've lied before Mystique' _

_Someday Summers. Someday you'll finally learn._

* * *

The door shut behind him with a deafening clang. Slowly Wolverine turned to face his opponent, who was hanging warily back at the other end of the cage.

Back to this. Back to the endless days of loneliness, except this time it wouldn't be endless. He'd find a job in a big city somewhere; there were plenty for men like him. The cage fighting was just to earn a bit of money until he found somewhere else.

Back in the cage, back to the life where no one cares about you. Back home.

Logan leant against the side of the cage, staring at his fist. Behind him the man paused for a moment, uncertain, before bounding forward and starting the attack.

Wolverine let him get a few punches in before striking back, his powerful Adamantium-strength knuckles smashing into the man's stomach, face and chest. His opponent fell back, blood pouring down the side of his brow, and Wolverine moved in, ready for the strike, ready for the kill.

And then the pain started.

Roaring in agony, he sank to his knees, clutching his head between his hands as his brain threatened to split in half. God it hurt, more than the fighting, more than anything else. Dimly, he noticed the audience fall back around the cage, slightly confused at this turn of events. He saw his opponent striding towards him, determined to finish the fight.

The pain slammed through his head, his eyes were closed, his mind in torment. Through the continuous waves of hurt he thought he could see the face of a young boy, dark-haired, olive-skinned, with eyes stretched wide in fear. The boys face circled round in his mind, whimpering '_Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't stop, I don't know what to do_.'

Then the pain reached a peak and he passed out. For the first time in his life, Wolverine had lost a fight.

* * *

Indio was in asleep when the jet roared overhead, he'd collapsed soon after Wolverine had, scared and shaking. Juggernaut had carried him back into his room, while Magneto stayed behind, staring at the walls that surrounded Cerebro, and wondering if there was any way to redesign it to make it slightly more efficient.

He was not unduly distressed by the boy's first failure. It had taken at least a week before the Professor had managed to work it properly. A week of headaches and sniping and arguments about which metal panels should be moved where. It would take the boy some time, but any amount of time was worth it.

The one problem the remained was whether Toad would break. He'd seen the outside of the warehouse, and it wouldn't take Summers too long to find out its position. Hopefully the X-men would be too busy trying to talk to the government, bury their dead, and counteract Mystiques terrorism to bother with him.

Magneto also did not hear the jet. Both Quicksilver and Juggernaut heard and assumed it was a private flight, or a lost commercial airline. Magneto was only jogged out of his thoughts when his son came running into the room, skidding slightly on the polished floor.

"There's someone at the door for you. Says she's an insurance agent."

Magneto frowned, angry at the boy for disrupting his thoughts, "Insurance?"

"She won't go away and you said not to attack random members of the public without your express permission." Quicksilver answered insolently.

Muttering under his breath, Magneto stormed up the stairs, scowling angrily at the rather curvaceous young red-head standing at the door. "What is it?"

She pulled a sheaf of paper from her briefcase and handed it too him without a word, confused, he took it. It was the news sheet with Toad's picture on it.

He looked up at her sharply; the hair was now dark and lengthening. And, just for a moment, there was a suggestion of a flicker of blue around her left cheek.

"Ah." He gave a tight smile. "I was busy, my dear."

"Too busy to even keep in touch?" The hair shortened, the eyes flickered through yellow into hazel, her body took on less generous proportions.

"I have a project going." Magneto wondered how well he was hiding his joy and relief at seeing her again. Next to him, Quicksilver scowled angrily, darkly wishing he'd never opened the door to the woman.

If he'd known it was Mystique he would have fetched Juggernaut to throw her out, rather than going to Magneto in a childish attempt to irritate by keeping exactly to the rules that had been laid down. Mystique didn't even spare him a glance.

"I have something to offer you." Mystique stepped inside and Magneto made way for her as she changed back to her traditional blue (with the precautionary black two-piece). "And you'll be pleased to know that the boys are all well."

"You rescued Toad then?" He could not help but sound impressed.

"Yes. Gambit's gone back to the swamp, but the other three are still around."

"Am I to assume this is what you're offering me? Quicksilver there's some tea in the kitchen somewhere." Glowering the boy stormed off, "Extra troops?"

She shook her head, smiling, "I can bring you the X-men."

He stared at her for a while, to the accompaniment of Quicksilver trying to make tea as loudly and annoyingly as possible. "You can't."

"Most of them anyway. There don't seem to be that many left. Toad brought down Storm and the Wolverine's crawled off, but I can bring you the others."

More silence. She continued. "Scott is the leader now, but he's the only one left. The only one of the Professor's old pupils."

He nods. He remembers those days.

"They know about Cerebro." That makes him frown, "But I haven't told them where you are. I've told them I know how to find out, so it's up to you to choose the battleground."

"Battle?" He smiles, "Do we want a battle?"

When Quicksilver returns they're deep in conversation and dismiss him again.

* * *

Sorry about the ending, it is a crappo ending. I was just fed up with the chapter. Magneto's character is fiendishly hard to get the hang of, and Mystique is starting to go a bit as well.

I'm all Harry-Potter-ified after reading DH. Which is why Quicksilver is starting to sound like a camp Draco Malfoy on a sugar-high.

I've just realised that Pyro isn't in this chapter _at all_ :(


	21. Where Angels fear to Tread

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

A/N: For those of you who didn't catch it in the credits, Warren is Angel :)

Where angels fear to tread

"Warren?"

He turned away from the window to see Bobby framed in the doorway. "What is it?"

Bobby sat down on a spare bed, trying hard not to look at the bunk which had been St John's. "Are you alright? You've been a little, well, quiet recently. And you weren't at dinner."

Warren turned back to stare out the window, at the grounds below, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just…"

"What."

"Are we really going to fight them?"

Bobby nodded, trying to look more like a veteran, "It's not too bad, fighting I mean." _Once you've handled the terror and the sickness and the burning twisting feeling inside you. Once you've got used to seeing dead and dying, and once you've got used to killing, although even I haven't managed that yet. I came back and threw up when I thought St John was dead._

"It's alright for you." Warren muttered, spreading his wings out over the back of the bed, "You're mutation isn't useless."

"C'mon Angel, you aren't useless. You're really good at, umm…"

"Flying away?"

"Just because you can't kill people, doesn't make you useless. Look at Kitty? All she did was run through walls and she was the most useful person there. She got Leech out."

"Isn't she coming with us?"

Bobby shook his head, "She didn't like it last time. She's studying law, maybe thinking of going into politics. She says there's got to be a better way to sort stuff out that by fighting."

The fight had shocked her, scared her. She'd said quite firmly that they could think it cowardice if they wanted, but she was quite happy seeking alternative solutions to the mutant-human relationships. Besides, as Bobby had already so wonderfully pointed out, she was useless.

It had been more of an argument than a discussion. And Bobby hadn't thought much of it because Rogue had come back and there had been that wonderful glorious week when she'd been normal.

Not normal. That was the wrong word to use. She'd been…human.

"I'm just scared I guess." Warren mumbled. Despite spending most of his childhood under virtual house arrest in his fathers mansion he had still picked up a little of male social interactions, and had a sneaking feeling that you weren't supposed to admit fear.

Bobby nodded, "Me too. But we'll have Scott with us." His voice trailed off.

"What was he like?" Warren ventured after a short silence. "The Professor, I mean."

Bobby thought for a moment. "Understanding." He said at last. "I mean he was so powerful but he sort of, well, I don't know how to explain it. Like there was this one time St John, uh, Pyro, and I made these firebombs, out of petrol and some stuff from the kitchen, it was just a joke really, then we lit one to see what would happen and it went mad, there was fire and stuff everywhere. St John dropped it into the lake, then we threw the rest into the bin and forgot about it. Didn't tell anyone."

He remembered it so well. It had been frightening, but fun as well, because there was someone to share the fear and someone to laugh about it with afterwards.

"I think Dr. Grey saw us though, because three of the ducks died when the petrol leaked out of the one in the lake, and Scott sent us to see the Professor. He asked us if we'd done it and…well…he waited for us to tell him. He could've just looked straight inside us and found out, but he asked us instead. And you could tell he'd have trusted us, even if we'd said no."

"Isn't Pyro one of them?" Warren asked.

"He is now." Had he been then? When he'd looked the Professor right in the eye and said; "Yes Sir, it was us." Had Pyro been evil then? Was he evil now? And if he wasn't, what did that make him, Bobby, who'd once almost killed him?"

* * *

"Ready?" Toad asked.

Pyro nodded, "When will they be here?"

"Mystique says sometime this afternoon. She's gone out to meet them and bring them back here. The last of the X-men."

"If they all…" He couldn't bring himself to say 'die', "Well, afterwards, what will happen to the school?"

"Magneto will run that I guess."

Pyro tried to imagine Magneto in the familiar surroundings of the mansion, "Could he do that?"

"He already has fire-boy, do try to keep up."

"What! When?"

"Ages ago. They built the school together, the Professor and Magneto. They both used to run it, then they had an argument and Magneto left with Mystique."

"There you are." Quicksilver appeared out of thin air, hands on hips, one eyebrow raised, "I've been looking for you all over the place, there's a last minute battle plan going on in the basement." Quick as he'd come, he vanished, swirling up the dust around him.

Pyro sniggered, "Is he _real_?"

"She hates him you know."

"Who, Mystique?"

"Yeah."

Pyro thought for a moment, contemplating a happy future where he was no longer the bottom of the hierarchy of the brotherhood. "How come."

Toad grinned, "He's Magneto's son."

"What!"

"Long story." They headed down the stairs and into the basement where Magneto, Mystique, Sabretooth and a sulky-looking Quicksilver were standing around a table. Magneto and Mystique had been talking about something, but they stopped abruptly as Toad and Pyro walked in.

"There you are." Magneto said tersely, "It's fairly simple, we just need to make sure everyone knows what they're doing."

"Are we gonna wipe them out?" Toad asked, smirking slightly because he was the only one around so far who'd killed an X-man.

Magneto nodded and Pyro suddenly felt as if a large ice-cube had been dropped down his neck, "What, kill them all?"

Mystique raised an eyebrow, Magneto's eyes were cold. Pyro gulped and nodded, "Right, yeah, sorry."

In a way, he didn't really want to know the answer.

* * *

A/N: After making the bold 'hietus till October' statement I was (predictably) attacked by a horde of plot bunnies. So…there is now a plot! Woohoo. Yes, this chapter is short. The others will be longer and hopefully more exciting and, most importantly, present in fairly regular intervals.

I've probably lost all my readers by now, but to those of you who've stuck around Thanks for all your support and reviews and stuff.

The chapter title is part of a quote. The quote goes: 'Fools rush in where angles fear to tread'

Playing with Fire is back on the road!


	22. Fools rush in

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Fools rush in...

Carefully, Wolverine lowered his head to peak through a small hole in the wall next to him. No sign of anyone yet, how long would they have to wait? Next to him, Rox whispered, "Anything?"

He shook his head, she sighed, "Two more hours, then we'll shift and tell Max it's no go."

He nodded, hardly listening. It had been two days since he'd crawled out of the gutter after that last appalling cage fight, and he was still worried in case the headache came back. What had caused it? Why was it happening? Were all mutants affected? So far he'd managed to survive and find work, ordinary, mercenary work, but if the headache came back at the wrong moment…

He thought of Rogue, left behind at the mansion. Would she be OK? Hopefully she'd have the sense to stay out of whatever Scott was planning, any more clever ideas he had about attacking Magneto. He thought of Toad, curled up on the stone, helpless.

Kids, they were all just kids, and somehow they'd been dragged into some mess created by the Professor and Magneto, God knows how many years ago.

He stared through the hole again. Next to him, Rox hissed to their non-existent quarry, "C'mon, what the hell you waiting for?"

Slowly, Logan straightened up, "Maybe they came earlier?"

She shook her head, "Nope, Luci said this time only. They've had the same routine for the last three days, no reason why they should have stopped just now."

"Unless they know…" He murmured, and then stopped as his ears caught a sound from behind the wall.

Quickly, he dropped back down, squinting through the gap in the brickwork. On the other side of the wall, two men in dark coats were attempting to wrestle the top off a manhole, arguing in hissed voices.

"Hol' de light, aah, careful."

"Just get it open you damn stupid Cajun."

He beckoned to Rox, and slid out the way. She took a look, then nodded and whispered in his ear so lightly he could barely hear her, "That's them. Now go earn some money."

Wolverine took a deep breath and punched straight through the wall.

* * *

"Where's everyone else?" Scott looked around, confused

"Waiting." Mystique looked critically at the force in front of her, "Is this all you've got?"

Bobby shifted uneasily and glanced up at Warren, who was visibly shaking. Next to him, Rogue glared at Mystique, still remembering the time at Liberty Isle.

"This is everyone." Scott was mercifully thankful that his eyes were hidden behind his visor. He didn't want Mystique to see how worried he was looking. What had he been thinking of, bringing children along to fight Magneto? Colossus, maybe, and Bobby had fought once before, but he was worried about Rogue and Warren, what if they were injured?

He wished Wolverine hadn't left.

Pyro, Sabretooth and Toad were waiting just outside a large aluminum building. It was an awkward meeting, with Pyro trying not to catch anyone's eye, and the recent fate of Storm hanging in everyone's mind.

"Come on." Mystique waved impatiently, "In here."

Scott stopped, staring at the warehouse, "Shouldn't we have a plan?"

"Do we have time?" She challenged.

Undaunted he turned away from her, "Angel, you get up high, watch out for Magneto, if he leaves the building I want to know."

Warren nodded and flew off, heartily glad and somewhat ashamed that he would miss the heart of the fighting.

"Colossus, watch out for Magneto, he can manipulate metal so just be careful. Iceman, stay near me, try and take out Magneto if you can, I'll be dealing with the Juggernaut."

Bobby nodded, trying to look tough and battle-hardened and almost succeeding.

"Rogue." Scott desperately tried to think of something for her to do. "Just…keep out the way. Stay near Colossus." _Stay behind Colossus if you can. _"And zap anyone who comes near."

Rogue gave him a shaky grin and pulled off her gloves.

"Finished, boy-scout Summers?" Mystique smirked, "And is there any room for us in this grand plan of yours?"

The visor hid his expression, "If you want to fight, feel free. Sabretooth can go for Magneto and Pyro and Toad try to sort out the other guy, Quicksilver."

"And me?" Mystique asked sarcastically.

"Keep safe." He said, with no hint of a smile.

They entered the warehouse and moved into the basement. Pyro keeping close the Bobby and Toad staying next to Scott, while Mystique dropped to the back and, as soon as they were out of hearing range whispered into the phone at her wrist, "They're coming in."

"Here?" Scott asked Toad, who shrugged. Sabretooth grunted an affirmative.

"Right." Scott was not happy about this. Something seemed…wrong. Mystique had disappeared, he didn't trust half of the people fighting with him, and he was still worried about Wolverine. "Everyone ready? Then let's finish this."

He blasted the doors apart.

* * *

The explosion woke Indio, sleeping in a small room on ground level. Gasping with shock and fear he scrabbled desperately at the door, which had been locked the night before.

He concentrated. There was no one around (except possibly the Silent Man), the only silvery-static thoughts he could hear where coming from far away, in the basement. The only ways out were through the door or the window. The window had bars on it.

Another explosion shook the building and he gave a small cry and ran over to the window, pulling futilely at the bars and listening desperately for any sound of a thought, any hint that there were people near by.

And then he heard it: _Oh no, looks like something big just happened. I hope Rogue is OK. Thank God I'm not down there, except obviously I want to be fighting, and…what was that?_

'That' had been Indio screaming at the top of his lungs.

_That voice is far too high to be one of ours, maybe someone's hurt, it sort of came from over there. I should be watching for Magneto! Argh, I'm too young to cope with this, someone's hurt, someone's screaming._

Indio yelled again, "Help!"

"What, where are you?" _What do I do, what do I do? Maybe I should help, but what if it's one of them, the Hell, why does that matter? Oh my god, what if he's dying or something._

"Down here!" The static thoughts were getting louder. Indio hoped they were from a powerful mutant, who could get him out and away from all this, back to the ghetto if necessary, because he was scared of the Silent Man and the machine that had shown him the cage-fighter screaming in his head.

A nervous looking face appeared outside the bars, followed by a barrage of fearful and worried thoughts, "Hello?"

Indio pulled on the bars again, "Get me out?"

"Uh," Warren looked at the iron rods helplessly, "I don't think I can."

"What's going on?"

"We're fighting Magneto. I mean, everyone else is, although I'm not entirely sure whats going on at the moment. I can't see through the ceiling."

They both stood a while and listened. After a while Indio said, puzzled, "Do you think it's over now?"

There was no sound from inside the warehouse.

* * *

The first explosion had been Scott blowing the doors open. The second had been Scott aiming his laser-beam at the Juggernaut.

Pyro felt the fire build up inside him and thought, _this is it…_

The fire built up in his hands. He turned and flung it towards Bobby, who managed to duck just in time.

He saw Bobby's face as he straightened up, the hurt, the bewilderment, but Pyro felt nothing but the joy of the flames. He aimed again, and Bobby desperately threw himself sideways, shooting out a stream of ice.

Somewhere in the fight Toad gave a cry as he was smashed backwards by a metallic fist. Rogue was running towards Juggernaut looking scared and furious. Scott, realizing what had happened, aimed at Sabretooth, who dodged behind the door.

The air was hot and heavy and full of flying scorched metal. Bobby pulled himself upright, then was smashed back down as Quicksilver appeared, whapped him over the back of the head, then vanished to try and stop Rogue. Pyro was fighting Colossus now, trying to get out the way of the flailing metal for long enough to build up a fireball. Toad was up again, albeit somewhat dizzily, Scott was sending a scorching laser stream straight towards Juggernaut, who waded straight through it, unbeatable, unstoppable.

Quicksilver grabbed Rogue, then twisted desperately, trying to hit a part of her that wouldn't kill him. Bobby was fighting Toad now, who was leaping across the iron rafters in the roof, trying to get a clear shot at Scott's visor with his tongue.

Colossus went rigid, then gasped and quickly turned the metal back to skin, his black uniform rippling out from under the metal. Pyro leapt triumphantly forward, then stopped, confused, as Rogue gave a gasping scream and collapsed.

"Rogue!" Bobby leapt forward. Somewhere to his left, Pyro heard Magneto give a cry.

"What the-"

From behind the door, Mystique gave a low moan and sank to her knees. Toad went pale and leapt out of the room. Scott and Bobby were running towards Rogue, Sabretooth was standing over Magneto's body. Colossus and Juggernaut stopped, confused, and the fighting ground to a halt.

"Magneto?" Carefully, Pyro approached. "Is he OK?"

Sabretooth bent down, felt for a pulse and then shrugged. Juggernaut was looking bored and Toad was elsewhere. Trying to feel like a useful second-in-command, Pyro bent down to look into the harsh lined face.

Magneto was still breathing, still alive.

There was a slight commotion near the door and Toad walked in, carrying Mystiques limp body over one shoulder. Sabretooth rushed to help him.

"Alright. What happened?" It was Scott who spoke. Toad turned on him, angrily.

"How the hell should we know? Your guess is as good as ours."

"I assume this is something you planned. After your little…betrayal."

"We betrayed no one!" Sabretooth grabbed Toad's wrist to stop him physically attacking Cyclops, "You chose to trust us, that's your stupid fault." They stared at each other. Juggernaut yawned pointedly and stared at the wall.

"Besides," Toad finished, "Why would we want to knock out two of ours?"

"Magneto's brilliant ideas don't always work as planned." Scott looked back at Rogue, thinking of Liberty Isle, "I just want to know if you had any hidden plan that might have caused this."

"No." Pyro answered, as Toad turned away from Scott, and pulled a small phone out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Pyro hissed, still facing Scott and wondering where Quicksilver had got too.

"Gambit." Toad whispered, "He said to call if there was an emergency. We've just lost Magneto and Mystique, we need some more firepower."

"More brainpower too." Pyro murmured, thinking of Sabretooth and Juggernaut.

"Yeah…" Toad muttered, and then "Gambit? You there Cajun?"

From the other end of the line came a small, "Ngkk."

"It's me, Mort. Magneto and Mystique have just…collapsed."

Gambits voice sounded tense and strained, "Not…the…time."

"You busy huh?" Toad grinned.

"Yeah." There was the sound of a muffled bang in the distance.

"I don't know what it was. They just kind of collapsed. Took out one of the X-men too, Rogue."

"Rogue?" Asked Gambit, then said "Gak!"

"What, hey, you alright there?"

Gambits voice came out very fast, "Uh, Toad ? Jus' tell me everythin' that's happened to Rogue, quickly as you can."

* * *

Just a little note of interest (for anyone who's still out there and reading this…)

In X2, when Mystique is looking through Deathstryke's file on the computer. If you pause it just as the list of names appears you can see that Multiple Man is there (as James Madrox, I think) as well as Gambit (Remy LeBeau) and Quicksilver (Pietro Maximov). Quicksilver's sister Wanda is listed as well; it says something like Maximov (2).

Most people probably got that, but just thought I'd mention it incase you hadn't. :)


	23. Things Fall Apart

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended

Things Fall Apart

The two men froze as the wall burst open to reveal Wolverine, covered in dust and mortar, snarling down at them.

"Freeze!" Rox yelled, and, faced by a man who'd just broken through a solid wall and a woman holding a semi-automatic, one of the men did. The other, however, gave a strangled cry and took off, dropping a crowbar behind him.

"Get him!" Yelled Rox, as the man left behind hurriedly dropped his weapons. Wolverine gave a growl and raced off, following the black trench-coat as it sped off around a corner.

This was good. This was a great feeling, the thrill of the hunt and the chase. He pounded along alleyways, never stopping to think whether this was leading into a trap, never thinking at all because it didn't matter. If it was a trap, he'd fight his way out, if it wasn't he'd run until the man stopped then drag him back.

And this was another killer he was chasing, another member of the dark and gloomy underworld, who'd probably killed as often as he had. This wasn't some frightened kid in a dark room; this was a fight for survival, in which he was just as likely to loose as his opponent.

Well, not really. Because apart from his last cage-fight Wolverine had never lost a fight in his life, but the principle was different. This was someone who could hit back.

He skidded around a corner, caught the back of the coat and swung it round. His opponent hit the side of the wall with a sickening thud and gave a small groan. Wolverine grabbed the front of his shirt, hauled him upwards, stared at the face and said "Holy crap."

Gambit gave a lopsided grin, "Who was you expectin' homme?"

"You!"

"De one an' only."

Wolverine glared into the red eyes, "Well in that case, bub, there's no problem with me using these."

The claws slid out of his knuckles, Gambit winced, "Ah, now dere's no need for dat."

"What the hell are you doing here Cajun?"

"Same, as you, jus-" he stopped. There was a beeping sound from inside his coat pocket.

"What's that?"

"Nothin' nothin'"

"Get it out."

Slowly, he pulled out the phone.

"Is that your boss?"

Gambit shrugged, trying to look as cool and in command as he could while pushed up against the wall by a very angry Wolverine. He pressed the phone and held it to his ear. Then his face went rigid.

"Who is it?" Wolverine asked suspiciously.

"Ngkk." Said Gambit, trying to imply that it had been nothing of consequence, a wrong number perhaps. The last thing he wanted was to give Wolverine a direct line to the brotherhood.

"Who is it?" The claws moved closed to his face. Gambit stared at them, transfixed, trying to think of a way to get rid of Toad on the other end of the line.

"Not…the…time." He whispered.

"What was that?" A police car drove by in the distance, and both men instinctively ducked.

"Yeah." Gambit muttered into the phone. Snarling, Wolverine sheathed the claws and hit him round the head.

"I'm loosing patience Cajun. Who are you talking to?"

Gambit kept hold of the phone as his head hit the wall again with a dull thud. He glanced frantically at Wolverine, then frowned and said, "Rogue?"

"Gak!" Wolverine's claws pressed into the side of his neck.

"You've got five seconds, LeBeau. Five seconds to tell me exactly what the person on the end of that phone is saying about Rogue."

He nodded desperately, "Uh, Toad? Jus' tell me everythin' that's happened to Rogue, quickly as you can."

* * *

"I think they've finished." Warren offered, and Indio heard _Please make it be over, please make us have won, oh god I hope there's no blood or anything…_

"Blood?" Indio couldn't keep the shock out of his voice. Warren stared at him suspiciously.

"What? I didn't say anything about blood." _OK, this kid's weird. What if he's working for Magneto? Oh no, I hope I don't have to kill him or anything. What am I going to do if we've lost? I want to rescue him, but how?_

"I heard your thoughts." Indio muttered, shaking the bars again.

"Oh. You're a mutant?" _That's OK then I guess. Now I have to get him out. Or maybe I should see if the others are OK. But if they aren't what can I do? And if they are, why haven't they come to find me?_

Indio nodded, feeling slightly annoyed at this spoilt, terrified boy.

_Maybe because I'm useless. I mean, face __it; I didn't do anything at all. Just flew around and…hey I found this guy! _"Are you working for Magneto?"

Some of the old ghetto-urchin returned. "I don't work for anybody."

_O.K, I need to find out what's going on. Then I can think about rescuing this kid. Maybe I'll get a medal or something. Or at the least some sort of thanks. And then I'll be useful. _"O.K, I'm going to get you out. Just, just wait for a bit. I'm going to get help."

Silently, Indio nodded again.

_How the hell am I going to do this? Oh no, he can read my thoughts! Uh…I will help you, I will help you, oh crap this is never going to work. Maybe I should have stayed at the mansion with Kitty._

He flew off. And Indio was left alone in the silence once more.

* * *

For Pyro, it was a fairly nightmarish situation. Sabretooth was glaring at the X-men, Toad was hissing frantically into a phone, Juggernaut was no help at all, and suddenly he, Pyro, was in charge.

He stared at Scott, trying to act cool and in control. "So, do you know what's wrong with her?" He gestured towards Rogue.

A muscle twitched in Scott's cheek. "No I don't, Allerdyce."

"My name is Pyro."

They stared angrily at each other. Inside, both were coming to the horrible, sinking conclusion that they alone were in command. It was new for both of them. Scott might have been in control before, but never to people who would obey him utterly, while not daring to put forth any suggestions themselves. For the first time he was the only veteran in a room full of rookies.

They both thought: How on earth am I going to manage?

"Dr McCoy would know." Scott said eventually. While it pained him to treat the former school-child as an equal, he was coming to the fast realization that he had no choice. He'd certainly rather deal with Pyro than any other member of the brotherhood. "It would be best to take her back to the mansion."

"And them?" Pyro indicated Magneto and Mystique, lying stretched out on the floor. As they watched, Mystique twitched slightly, and the blue colour drained from her body, leaving her naked save for the precautionary black two-piece.

Scott tried to think. Mystique had betrayed them; on the other hand she was…well…technically one of them. And neither she nor Magneto was particularly dangerous at the moment.

Hank. Hank was the only one left. And Scott felt he needed advice.

"Alright Aller-uh-Pyro. I'll call Dr McCoy and see what he can do."

Pyro nodded, trying to look defiant.

"Um, guys? Toad looked up from the mobile. "I've got Gambit and the Wolverine on the line. Gambit says no one moves Mystique until he arrives, and Wolverine says if Rogue is damaged in any way he's gonna gut Summers when he gets here."

Pyro smirked, then felt a great wave of relief wash over him. Gambit would soon be here.

"Me and Sabretooth can go and get them in the jet." Toad offered.

"Can't just Sabretooth go?" Pyro asked, beginning to panic at the thought of being left alone with the X-men.

Toad caught his eye and grinned, "Sure thing fire-boy. Sabe knows them both anyway."

"He does?" Bobby asked, blushing slightly when they all turned to look at him, "I mean, I didn't think Wolverine…"

"Sabretooth, get in the jet, Toad will tell you where to go." Pyro felt a slight thrill of power as he issued the orders. "Quicksilver…where's Quicksilver?"

"Where's Angel?" Colossus asked.

"He should be outside, keeping an eye on everything." Scott frowned, "Take a look, Colossus. Bobby, you stay with Rogue."

Not wanting to be outdone, Pyro tried to think of some more orders to give. "Juggernaut, stay with Magneto and Mystique."

"What does it look like I'm doing? Planting flowers?"

"What are we going to do about the kid?" Toad hissed in his ear, giving Juggernaut a disgusted look when he was sure the burly mutant wasn't looking. "Whatsisface, the Latino boy Magneto got to work Cerebro."

There was a commotion near the doorway as Colossus entered, dragging in Angel's body. Sabretooth stepped over it and hurried outside to the jet, while Bobby and Scott crowded round.

"Did he collapse too?"

"Just knocked out I think." Colossus shook the unconscious Warren, who gave a small groan. "Is there any water?"

"Toad, get some water." Pyro ordered, "And see if you can find Quicksilver."

"Who do you think you are?" Toad sneered, but did as he was told.

* * *

"Should I have been with them?" Kitty sighed, absentmindedly twisting a strand of hair around her finger. "I mean, I just feel that it would have been the bravest thing to do."

Hank McCoy smiled at her across the desk. "Sometimes the bravest course is not necessarily the correct one. It is easy to throw yourself into a battle, ignoring all other options, in the belief that you are doing a brave thing. Especially if you feel you have something to prove."

"I do feel like I'm trying to prove something." She admitted. "The others, Bobby, Pieter, Rogue, they're all so…brave, so strong, they've been through so much."

"Sit down." Hank suggested, and grinned as she swung herself onto the desk. "Do you think I don't feel like that sometimes? That I'm wasting my time with words while the others are risking their lives?"

"Is it a waste of time?" She sighed. "I mean, it seems to be. Conference after conference, UN summit after UN summit and it still seems the only solution is violence. Or at least, the only solution that people ever take."

He looked at her over the top of his glasses, "Do they ever teach you about the conflicts that didn't happen because they were discussed diplomatically?"

She frowned, confused, "No."

"Of course. Because they didn't happen. Words always make a difference Kitty."

"I guess." She still seemed unconvinced, "It's just…I can walk through walls. Shouldn't I be using that for 'good'? I'm Shadowcat, but I don't feel I'm living up to that."

"I was the Beast." He reminded her, and she laughed. "Besides, sometimes it's not about what you can do, but what you choose not to."

"You sound like the Professor." She smiled, then jumped slightly as the phone next to her went off.

Hank picked it up. "Yes? Scott! What is it?"

Behind her back, Kitty crossed her fingers, hoping desperately for good news, or at least the absence of bad news.

"Yes, yes of course. You can't possibly leave them there; does the brotherhood have any way to treat them?"

Another pause. Kitty strained her ears trying to catch what Scott was saying on the other end of the line.

"They really shouldn't be a problem. Practically everything in the lab is glass or plastic, but I won't have Juggernaut in here. No. Sorry? Ah yes, certainly, that shouldn't be a problem."

"Juggernaut?" Kitty gulped. Hearing her, Hank looked up and shook his head reassuringly, mouthing "Don't worry."

"Is anyone hurt?" She hissed.

"Right. Certainly, yes." He put the phone down and turned to her, loading documents into his briefcase as he did so. "Rogue, Mystique and Magneto are down. No one has any idea why. Are you going past Professor Casey's house on the way to college?"

She nodded, he handed her the briefcase. "Drop this off, make sure she gets it. I'll be in the Medical Room if anyone wants to see me."

"Rogue, Mystique and Magneto? Why them?"

He shrugged, "So far, I've no idea."

* * *

Hehe, cliffy. I was going to let it out this chapter, but I thought I'd give anyone whose reading this another few days to try and guess.

So, why Rogue, Mystique and Magneto? Anyone who gets the right answer will get cyber-cookies, flowers, and a date with Wolverine :p

(have I made it too obvious?)


	24. Prevention is better than Cure

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Prevention is better than Cure

Senator Lewison had to admit to being disappointed. When he'd first heard (after a small amusing misunderstanding) that Professor Casey was in fact a lady he'd hoped for a young, attractive twenty-three year old with long flowing hair. He'd expected her to show him around the lab in a smart short-skirted suit, explaining the details and being so bowled-over by the obvious and scientifically brilliant solution that he provided that she accepted his invitation to dinner.

Instead, he was being shown around by a short haired woman in her late forties, wearing a grubby lab-coat and trainers. Worse of all, he couldn't understand half of what she was saying.

"We believe the mutant known as Leech produced a form of pheromone, which, once it enters the skin of a mutant, activates a nervous response in the individual concerned. This leads to the formation of a further hormonal response, (possibly steric) which temporarily blocks the expression of the X-gene. Worthington labs were working toward converting the pheromone into a form that could be injected straight into the individual."

"They were trying to turn mutants into normal people?" He asked, trying desperately to keep up.

"Not really. They were trying to suppress the expression of the X-gene."

"Which turns mutants into normal people?" He repeated, attempting to get down to the main point.

She frowned, annoyed, "Well, I suppose you could put it that way."

He nodded, relieved, thinking: _women! Why do they have to be so awkward? _"So what went wrong? I mean, the science is sound…isn't it?"

"Oh yes, the idea is simple enough. It's simply that there weren't enough studies done on what effect this would have on mutants."

"Not enough testing, is that what you're saying."

"No long term tests were carried out." She corrected, "Worthington was anxious to get the drug on the market as soon as possible, especially given the fragile political situation. Long term tests would have involved the monitoring of a volunteer subject for anything up to twenty years."

He thought about this for a few minutes, "How long were the longest long-term tests?"

She gave a mirthless smile. "There weren't any. Worthington was planning on using his son as a test subject, but apparently the boy wasn't keen."

"Sorry, am I correct here in assuming that there were no tests at all on human subjects before the drug hit the market?"

"It was very bad practice." She pursed her lips, "But you must understand, once word got out that a mutant 'cure' was available there was huge public and political demand that it go out as soon as possible."

He nodded. "So do we have any idea why everyone who's taken this cure is suddenly dropping like flies?"

"No. Well, yes. That is to say, it's fairly obvious why, you can't just knock out an entire gene and expect it to have no adverse effects, we just don't know _why _the X-gene has such an effect on their health. After all, it was assumed by Worthington (and indeed many others) that the X-gene only effected the mutation. We're now finding that, obviously, this is not the case."

"So what can you do about it?"

"We're working on it. I don't know if you're aware, but many mutants found that the 'cure' effect disappeared about a week or so after they'd been given it. We were working on that when this new problem arose; we've had to change our ideas fairly quickly."

"Don't you have any answers?" Asked the Senator, uncomfortably aware of the address he was about to give on this very problem in a few hours time.

"Not yet." She snapped, annoyed at his tone.

_Stupid woman! _He thought, _Doesn't she understand? Politics isn't like science, people demand answers whether you have them or not!_

_Stupid man! _She thought, _Doesn't he understand? Science isn't like politics, you can't just throw money at a test-tube until it gives you the answer you want!_

They parted in a bad temper.

* * *

Quicksilver waited until the jet was well out of sight before venturing back into the warehouse to confront Juggernaut.

"Well? What happened?"

He shrugged, "Dunno. Magneto and the woman just collapsed, along with one of those X-men. Then they all went off, back to the mansion I think."

"The X-mansion?" Quicksilver repeated, confused.

"That's what I said isn't it? Oh, one of them didn't. Sabretooth, the grouchy one, he went to pick up the Cajun and a friend."

Quicksilver thought for a few minutes, "Wolverine."

"Yeah, that was it."

"What about the boy." Quicksilver asked.

"What boy?"

"The kid we brought in from the back-alleys."

"Yeah, they took him as well. Cyclops blasted the door open, as soon as the one with wings told him where he was."

"Angel?" Quicksilver smirked, "I got him. He was walking around outside and I hit him with a crowbar."

"You can't have hit him that hard, he was walking when I last saw him."

Moodily, the speed-demon kicked at a fallen iron girder, "What do we do now then?"

"Dunno. Wait for them to recover I suppose."

They stared around at the destruction, then Juggernaut gave a shrug and slouched off into the self-appointed bedroom. "If Magneto's not back in a week, I'm off."

"Yeah." Quicksilver muttered. He'd never had much fatherly feeling for Magneto, but he suddenly found himself hoping desperately that the old man was OK.

For his sake as much as anyone's.

* * *

"Rogue, Magneto, Mystique." Scott looked down at the three figures lying on the hospital beds. Next to him, Pyro and Toad stood, a little awkwardly, with Indio behind them, trying to keep as much out of the way as he could.

Both the brotherhood and the X-men remained silent for a while, as Hank took blood samples, but for Indio the room was full of noise:

_C'mon Mystique, you've been through worse stuff than this, don't leave me alone here with the fire-boy and a room full of X-geeks-_

_Wow, this is intense. Kind of cool though, like a film or something. I hope Gambit gets here soon, preferably before Magneto recovers-_

_What on earth am I going to tell Wolverine, and why them, of all people, what did they have in common? Hank should know-_

_There's nothing I can think of that links them together. I hope Kitty got that report through; Casey needs that sort of information if she's going to find out why the cure…hang on-_

From the three unconscious figures, there was no sound at all.

"Uh, Hank?" Scott asked, "Do you have any idea why? I mean I know they've only just arrived, but I was trying to think of something that would connect them…"

Hank frowned, "There's certainly nothing that would seem to connect them. Unless," He turned to Toad and Pyro, "Did Mystique take the cure?"

Pyro glanced at Toad, "Well, she didn't exactly _take_ it."

"Rogue did." Bobby entered the room and stared down at the prone figures, his face white.

"And we gave it to Magneto." Hank finished.

"Mystique had it." Toad offered. "She was the first I think. They shot her with it."

Scott felt a little awkward. He'd been absent for pretty much all of the controversy surrounding the cure.

"Is that why her colour's gone?" Pyro asked. "I mean, she was almost fully back to normal."

Silently, Bobby took Rogue's hand and pulled the glove off. Gently, he stroked her fingers. There was no effect. Slightly disappointed, Pyro turned back to Hank.

"Uh, Dr McCoy? Is there anything you can do about it?"

He shook his head, "No. Not at the moment. I have contacts with the people who are working on it."

"Humans?" Toad spat.

"Yes." Hank replied levelly, "Professor Casey is a very capable scientist; I've worked with her before."

"Casey?" Bobby looked up, confused, "I thought the guy working on the cure was Worthington, you know, Angel's father."

"He's left all fields of mutant research." Hank answered. Pyro grinned, "I think he was worried about the health risks. He works for an industrial company hat designs indoor heating systems."

"How soon will you be able to get in contact with this Professor Casey?" Scott interrupted impatiently.

"Soon." Hank gave him a weary smile, "As soon as I can."

* * *

"Sabretooth's comin' to get us." Gambit straightened his trench coat as Wolverine prowled restlessly up and down the alleyway. "You, me an' him, jus' like de ol' days."

"I never worked with you, LeBeau."

"True. But I met Sabretoot' before. I knew all 'bout you before I even saw you."

Wolverine ignored him, staring up at the sky, all senses alert for the sound of a jet.

"Course, dat was before I moved up North. Still workin' in de Bayou. Dey was good days. Dat was before it all got political, hey?"

"I was cage-fighting in Canada."

"Maybe dat why we never met?"

"Shut it!" Wolverine growled at him. He was already feeling tense as a wire about Rogue, and hardly in the mood to hear the life story of a Cajun thief. "Wait, did you hear something just then?"

"Nope." Idly, Gambit pulled out a small knife and began to clean under his nails. "So what made you take up the mercenary life? I jus' thought you was fine wit de X-men."

"Yeah." Logan muttered.

"So what happen?"

"What do you know about Toad?" Logan asked abruptly.

Gambit frowned, "Toad?"

"Yeah."

"He's jus' some alley-rat Mystique picked up. Firs' met him when I started workin' for Magneto. He used to hang aroun' wit dem. He was quite young den, bou' fifteen."

"It's a lousy world for kids." Deep inside him Wolverine had a sudden image of a small girl crying as someone smashed a doll against a wall, over and over again. He shivered, trying to get rid of it, thinking, _where the hell did that come from?_

The image faded slightly, lurking in the back of his mind like a half forgotten dream. He shook his head. Maybe it was something he'd seen once, in the background, in some run down town with a seedy bar that needed a fighter.

"You OK?" Gambit was staring at him, slightly concerned.

"I'm fine." The girl had looked about five or six. The doll was one of those indestructible rag things, button eyes, black wool hair, and an unconvincing red string smile..

"Uh, Logan? The Jet's here."

He shook his head again and looked up as Sabretooth landed on the top of a nearby building and motioned them to climb up the fire escape. Slowly, he climbed into the jet, pulling the seatbelt over his chest as the vision began to fade.

The doll had been wearing a dress. He could no longer remember what colour it had been.

* * *

Kindof short this one, it just seemed quite a good stopping place. Considering that I am mostly making this up as I go along, I am quite pleased with the way the different plot elements are slipping into place.

Luckily after the great review cull of '07 I seem to have picked up a couple more readers. Wo0t for them! I love getting feedback, so please leave a comment. Any comment at all: review, flame, thoughts, theories, shopping list, whatever :p

All dodgy science made up by yours truly.


	25. Memory

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Memory

Wolverine climbed into the jet and leant his head against the cool glass. His brain was pounding, like it had done before in the cage fight. His mind was on fire, showing scenes and places he hardly recognised, thoughts he barely remembered as his.

_A field of mud, the taste of blood, somebody shouting. His hands wrapped round another man's throat, a clenching fear and at the same time the thrill of power._

_An office, a desk, a huge stack of papers. He can see a glass paperweight on the desk, its insides shaped like an opening flower. Reds and blues and yellows. Someone is speaking, he can't remember a word they're saying, the paperweight is shining in the sun, flashing colours all over the files, the word 'official' stamped in red._

"Hey, Logan?"

_Wallpaper. Deep red swirls over a cream background. Three rents in the paper like claws. He did that. He made them. Someone is crying and someone is shouting. There's the sound of a heavy thud, and Logan realises, suddenly, that the person crying is him, and the red swirls aren't from the wallpaper…_

"Logan?" Wolverine turned, snarling, as Gambit shook him awake. "Uh, I t'ink you fell asleep dere homme."

Logan shook his head, trying to get the memories out. What the hell was happening to him?

"We're here." Sabretooth grunted bringing the jet down behind the school.

* * *

Err, yep. That's it. Sorry! I got back to college this week and saw my timetable and almost had a heart attack. I am free Saturday afternoons, Sundays, and Monday afternoons. That's it. All the other days I am on practicals, lectures, supervisions, etc. And I will be needing that time to write essays.

So…I will do everything humanely possible to get a chapter out once a week. But some of them will be short, and some of them will be…uh…non-existent. But I will try, and I guess that's what counts. :)

Sorry to y'all.

Rest assured though, I have plenty of plot ideas. Just not the _time._


	26. Back at the Mansion

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

A/N: Sorry about the delay! The characters might be a bit out of line as I haven't written about them for so long.

Back at the Mansion

"Gambit!" Pyro rushed down to the door as soon as it opened, the relief tangible in his voice.

"Woah, easy dere." Gambit smiled and threw an arm around him, "Where is she den?"

"Down in the basement." Pyro blinked quickly, trying to keep the tears out of his eyes. He hadn't realised how much he'd missed having someone else in command, someone else to rest the burden of authority on. The backload of adrenaline washed over him and he tried to discretely wipe his nose with his sleeve.

Wolverine strode ahead of them, jaw clenched.

"Is he OK?" Pyro whispered.

Gambit gave a half-shrug and shook his head. "No idea. He went a bit…strange in the jet. I guess he likes Rogue, oui?"

"Sort of. More…protects her."

"Ah."

Hank looked up as they entered the room. Toad was there as well, sitting hunched up in a seat next to Mystique. He looked up warily as Wolverine entered.

"Rogue." Logan took her hand where it lay limply across the sheets. "Hank, what happened?"

The blue mutant shook his head, "We have no idea. I have collegues working on it."

"Humans." Toad muttered.

Wolverine nodded, still staring down at Rogue. "How long is this gonna last?"

"I'm sorry Logan, at the moment I have no idea."

Wolverine looked over to where the brotherhood were gathered around Mystique and Magneto. "Why did we bring them in?"

"It would hardly have been ethical to leave them behind." Hank said, a smile twisting the corner of his lip as Toad shot Wolverine a dirty look. "Besides, they're hardly any danger at the moment."

Wolverine gave a snort of disbelief. Gambit placed a restraining hand on Toad's shoulder and moved forwards. "C'mon homme, we're not gonna attack wit you lookin' after Mystique. And Magneto." He added as an afterthought.

"Yeah." Pyro added, and then blushed as Wolverine turned to stare at him.

"Well, I suppose you'll want your room back then."

* * *

It wasn't the same room, the brotherhood all were lumped together into an empty dormitory and generally ignored. After lunch he went to look for it though; the dormitory he'd shared with Bobby, Colossus and all his friends.

Not his friends, his enemies. He had to keep remembering that.

There was someone on his bed.

"Hey!"

The figure gave a guilty start, and Pyro realised that it was the bird-boy, Angel.

"You're on my bed."

Warren turned to face him, recognition dawning in his eyes. "Oh, was this where you used to sleep?"

"Yeah." Pyro said, trying to think of a slightly more cutting remark. He moved over to the window and opened it. The room was bringing back a lot of memories. Late nights up playing cards, Bobby spilling coke all over the blankets. Sneaking in a bottle of alco-pop from somewhere and pretending they were all big men (although he'd never felt comfortable about that, there was something about alcohol that reminded him of his father).

"We used to make paper planes and try to fly them into the lake from the window." He said wistfully, sliding his hand down the bottom of the windowsill to confirm that his graffiti was indeed still there. "And there was this other girl, she's probably gone now, she used to make fireworks for us, right in the room. We used to all crouch down on the beds praying nothing would catch fire and laughing like crazy."

Warren looked desperately around the room, wondering what to say.

"It was cool." Pyro grinned, then remembered himself, "Well, not as cool as the brotherhood."

"You'd rather be an international terrorist than at school?" Warren asked, stepping back as Pyro turned on him.

"I'd rather be somewhere where people take me seriously. Where I'm not just told what to do all the time."

"Sure. Fine." Warren's backed into the bunk-bed, wishing he'd never said anything.

"I spent my whole life with people telling me what to do, always doing something wrong, always having someone more powerful than you, someone you can't do anything about." Pyro's eyes flashed dangerously. "Now I have the power, and Xavier never gave me that."

"I wish I'd met Xavier." Warren said rather regretfully.

Pyro turned away from him, "He was just some old guy." He mumbled.

"Everyone says he was really…" Warren began then stopped, trying to remember what had been so special about Xavier. "Well, understanding I guess."

"Yeah." Pyro shrugged, trying to stop his mind going back down the years to the first time he'd met Xavier, the first time he'd stood in front of that desk, in a shirt to big and jeans too small and a hold-all with everything he owned.

It hadn't been that long ago. Had it? He'd have been what, twelve? Five years, was that a long time?

"He sort of, I dunno." Pyro mumbled, feeling a little self-conscious. "He seemed to care about you. Like, really care. He could've looked into your head, just found out everything, but he didn't. He wanted you to tell him. He was that interested. Even just about some kid." For the second time that day he felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

_What the hell's wrong with me? Getting all emotional over nothing._

"Will you be staying here for long?" Warren asked, not entirely sure what he wanted the answer to be.

"As long as it takes."

* * *

Professor Casey sighed, pushing the hair out of her eyes. She'd escaped to university to get away from her parents in Iowa, and drifted into research which, to her great surprise, she'd discovered she was good at. Her PhD years had passed in a haze of coffee breaks, friendships, days locked in little rooms doing the same experiment over and over again, reams of disappointing results…

She'd enjoyed every minute. It had only seemed natural to keep going, to climb up higher, becoming a Doctor, and then a Professor. Until she'd discovered, to her great dismay, that she wasn't actually doing any research any more. Her time had become a maze of politics, PR and paperwork, with the actual work being delegated to other people.

She picked up the paper in front of her, reading through it again listlessly. It was from Senator Lewison, asking tersely why she hadn't put out a press-release yet. The second letter was from the newspapers, asking pretty much the same thing.

How was she meant to write a press release? She had no press to release! Everything was pretty much the same as it had been last week, except that there were a few more things that they knew weren't causing the problems.

Funding was going to start becoming an issue soon. And then she would be faced with the unenviable task of having to ask for more money without actually having any results, or any notion of where to get results from.

Frustrated, she shoved the letters into her desk and pulled a piece of paper towards her. In the centre she wrote 'X gene' and circled it.

Now…what had Worthington been doing?

Knocking out the X gene. She wrote 'knock out' and drew a line connecting it to the central circle.

How? That was the problem. The cure had stopped working, so presumably the X gene hadn't actually been destroyed. Just…compromised in some way. That had been the frustrating thing, all the lab records had been on Alcatraz (now destroyed), and Worthington was refusing to have anything more to do with anything, which meant they'd had to start from scratch.

So, the cure had bound to the X-gene and stopped it from working. Then, suddenly, it had stopped working. And until quite recently, they'd all been sure that the body had broken it down somehow…

_Is it still there?_ She wondered._ Is whatever knocked out the X-gene still inside the cell._

She doodled on the pad in front of her, drawing a swirly line of DNA.

_And if it is, what's it doing now? Surely not. It can't be that simple. We must have checked for that._

She tried to remember. The cure hadn't worked. They'd all be certain it wasn't around any more. They'd even checked for it in blood serum. Nothing had been found. Which meant…

Quickly she wrote 'Still in the cell' and underlined it. She thought for a bit and then conscientiously added a small question mark in brackets.

'Not in blood.' She wrote down, by way of clarification.

After a bit more thought, she put 'In nucleus?'

'Affecting DNA?'

'Important DNA?'

"But why where they knocked out." She muttered to herself. "DNA damage to body cells shouldn't knock someone out."

She pulled another piece of paper towards her and tried a different tack. In the middle of the page she wrote 'Breathing, cerebral function, no consciousness.'

Underneath she wrote 'brain.' And underneath that 'Cure?'

But even affecting the brain shouldn't knock them out. Migraines maybe, but nothing more than that. Surely?

The words started to swim in front of her. She hadn't been getting enough sleep lately. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been to bed before midnight.

There was still that damn press release to write.

Downstairs there was the sound of a door slamming. Werily she got up, thinking _I have got to get a doorstop, it does that every time the lounge window's open._

It wasn't until she was half way down the stairs that she realized that the lounge window hadn't been open. She slowed down, wary, uncertain, trying to remember whether she had shut it or not. She remembered pulling the curtain out of the way, had that been yesterday?

Then Juggernaut stepped out from behind the corner and smashed her over the head with a crowbar.

* * *

Hope there are still some reviewers left!

(lol, this chapter is a bit crap. If you are massively dissapointed with it, go and read anything by the amazing Foxieglove. You'll find her in my favourite authors, she writes great stuff for evo X-men, check out 'Morally Shady', my favourite X men story ever.)


	27. Mutant Meetings

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

Notes: Thank Dendraica and her awesome Deviantart pictures for giving me the inspiration to write some more of this. D

Mutant Meetings

"So, dat's Rogue den." Gambit said after a while, to break the silence.

Toad, crouching on a chair next to Mystique, looked up. "Yeah. That's Rogue. Why?"

"Jus' I heard so much about her from youse. Wondered what she looked like." Unconsciously, Gambit leaned forward and pushed a strand of hair out of Rogue's eyes.

Toad gave a twisted smile. "Don't bother with that one, far too dangerous."

"I can deal wit de Wolverine."

"Fine. Maybe. But can you deal with her?"

Gambit frowned. Toad gave a sigh and explained further. "Her mutation is death. Everything she touches with her skin just…dies."

"Ouch." Gambit's eyes wondered over her body. She was breathing, just, and he suddenly found himself hoping desperately they'd find out what was wrong soon. He wanted to see the body alive, the eyes sparkling, those lips talking and smiling. "Dat's tough."

"Too tough for you, Cajun."

Gambit shrugged and turned away, "Maybe."

* * *

Hank sighed, leafing through the papers on Professor Casey's desk. "Do we have any indication of what happened to her?"

The policeman shook his head.

"She just vanished?"

"We suspect mutant activity-" The policeman began, then stopped and coughed a little self consciously. "Erm."

"Yes." Hank smiled. "I understand."

"Well the door is locked, the windows are shut and there's no sign of a struggle." The policeman continued, looked awkward. "So she either left of her own accord…"

"Unlikely." Hank interjected.

"Or there was dodgy activity, and quite frankly Sir, given the work she was undertaking…"

"She was trying to help mutants." Hank looked at the young man over the top of his glasses, "Don't you think it slightly more likely that she was captured by some form of anti-mutant group."

"Friends of Humanity." Kitty whispered. The terrorist anti-mutant group had appeared relatively recently, and was still mostly at the graffiti-and-random-violence stage. Mostly.

"They would have owned up by now Sir, the FoH likes people to know what it does."

"Has _anyone_ owned up to it?" Kitty asked, shooting a nervous glance at Hank who gave her a reassuring smile.

"No. Which makes us suspect that she left of her own accord."

"She wouldn't do that." Dr McCoy shook his head. "She loved her work, and something as important as this? No. She'd want to see it through to the end."

"Well." The policeman looked awkward again, "Whatever you say Sir."

Annoyed, Hank turned away. The study looked the same as he'd always seen it: messy, but in an oddly organised manner. Casey had once boasted that she knew where everything in the room was, and had proved it by triumphantly pulling a lab report from under a stack of dishes acting as a clothes-rack.

He drifted closer to the desk. Like the room, it acted as storage for any item the Professor wasn't currently using. It was piled with miscellaneous items, with the exception of a small cleared space in the centre where she was working.

Her notepad was open; she'd been writing the evening she'd left.

Hank peered closer at the writing on the top sheet.

* * *

"So, you're the psychic huh?"

Indio had heard the thoughts creeping up behind him, but still made him jump when he turned to see the man whose mind he'd entered leaning against the wall. Hastily he backed up against the pillar, his eyes darting round for an escape route, "Uh, I am sorry Sir, I did not mean to hurt you."

To his surprise, Wolverine slumped, "I'm not gonna hurt you kid."

And he wasn't, Indio could hear his thoughts: _Hell I'm sick of this. Just for once I want to look at a kid who doesn't stare back at me like I'm gonna gut them. When did I turn into this; what was my life like before, was I always this bad? _

"Um, are you OK?" Indio asked cautiously.

"Yeah." Logan took a deep breath, "I'm fine."

"I…didn't mean to…make you, uh, pass out."

_Don't blame yourself kid, not for whatever kind of shit Magneto put you through. _"Yeah I know."

They stood in silence for a bit, except for Indio there was never silence, always the staticy-silvery voices whirling around in his head.

_OK, I've just gotta ask the kid. I mean he can read minds, right. Just like Jean, oh god don't think of Jean, he can just walk in there and find out all these memories that keep flying around inside me. He can work out what's going wrong in my head. _"Hey kid, could you do something for me?"

"I can't." Indio shook his head, Logan frowned. "I mean, I can't read memories or anything."

_Holy shit the kids in my head!_

The man was looking angry and Indio started to panic, "I can't help it, I just hear things, everything. All the other words that people say. I can't get into peoples heads, I just hear what they send out."

_OK, calm down Logan, kid can't help it, it's just…wait, can he hear me now-oh crap he can hear this, damn how do you fight against something like this at least Jean could block it- we really need the Professor._

Indio shook his head desperately, trying to get the man's words out of his mind. "Gah! I don't want to hear it, I'm not trying to."

"You can't block it at all?" _Hell, this one's gonna be a liability. Tensions running high enough round here without someone around who knows what we're all _really_ thinking._

"No." Indio sighed, then frowned, "Except…the Silent Man."

Logan raised an eyebrow, "Silent Man?"

"With the helmet." Indio sketched the shape around his own head.

"Ah." _Magneto, figures. Fine. We just all have to walk around the place with tin-foil over our heads._

Indio gave a giggle, stopping instantly as Wolverine turned to glare at him.

"OK kid, here's the deal. Don't react to anything you hear unless people say it, OK. However hard it is?"

Indio nodded.

"And I wouldn't let it slip that you can read minds if I were you, people will ask you to…find things out. You know? Things that could cause problems."

Indio nodded again. He knew. It was amazing how many problems a seemingly well-intended explanation of someone's feelings could cause.

"And kid?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Call me Logan."

* * *

Meh. I hate this chapter. Too much plot, too many clichés and all the characters are out. The only thing I like is the first scene with Toad and Gambit ;) heh.

Sorry for the break. Holidays coming up, so I should be able to write a bit more (and a bit faster).


	28. In the Mind

Disclaimer: All characters and situations are the properly of Marvel Comics , Bryan Singer, and David Hayter. I make no money from this and no breach of copyright is intended.

In the Mind

"She was very close." Hank explained. "But Professor Casey was thinking in terms of cells and brains."

"Braaaiiinnss." Bobby droned, then stopped when nobody laughed.

"She thought in terms of the body, when she should have been thinking in terms of the mind."

Hank turned to look at Indio, who took one look at him and ran out the room, the door banging shut behind him.

* * *

"Hey kid."

"Hello Logan. I'm glad you haven't come to drag me back."

Wolverine shook his head, "It's still a bit weird when you do that."

"Sorry. I can't help it."

"I know." Logan looked up at the small figure crouched on the garage roof. "You gonna come down any time soon?"

Indio shook his head.

"Fair enough." There was a brief clatter as Wolverine pulled himself up. "Nice view up here."

"I've never seen this many trees before."

"City-kid, huh?"

Indio nodded.

"So, why did you run for it? Hank's upset, Scott's worried and most other people are confused."

Indio stared out over the grounds of the mansion. It was late afternoon and the shadows were already stretching out over the lawn. "He wanted me to use the machine again, the one the Silent Man had."

"Cerebro." Logan pulled out a cigar and lit it.

"The thing that made you…hurt."

Wolverine shrugged, "Don't worry about it kid."

Indio frowned, "But it did hurt you. And then it hurt me, because I was in your head. And since then you keep having strange memories."

Wolverine glanced at him, "It's really strange talking with you kid."

Indio sighed, "I know."

"But…kind of cool too. Seems like I have to watch what I say with everyone else in the mansion, but here and now, I can just say whatever I'm thinking. Hell, I might as well just say everything I'm thinking."

"Is there any way I can stop it?" Indio asked.

"Not that I know of. You'd need the Professor for that but he's…" Wolverine shot a glance at the kid's shocked face, glad for once that he wouldn't have to spell out Xavier's death. "Yeah. Well, he could've helped you. But I don't know anyone else who could."

"You want me to try using the Cerebro thing again."

Logan sighed. "It's not that I want you to, it's just…at the moment I don't see any other chance we've got. And as long as you don't concentrate too hard on any one person, it shouldn't be a problem." _I think. At least, Jean said so._

"You think? You're not sure?"

"Just read my mind kid, there's not much point in asking is there?"

"But you said I shouldn't!" Indio said, worried because Logan was starting to look angry again.

There was a short silence and then Indio said, "You are worried about Rogue."

"Yeah."

"Do you love her?"

Wolverine shrugged. "I…guess. Not like, not like,"

"Jean." Indio whispered.

"Not like her. But, I guess I wouldn't want to see her hurt." _And Iceman can pretend to be as innocent as he likes but if I ever see bruises on her arms or face he's going down._ _Hard."_

"The Cajun man wants her back too." Indio continued, oblivious, "And Toad wants the other woman to wake up. Nobody seems to care about the Silent Man."

"What was that about the Cajun?" Wolverine growled.

Indio looked slightly panicky. "Uh. I shouldn't have said that."

"If he even _tries_…"

"I mean, he just thinks about her a lot. In a good way. He thinks nice things about her. Uh, Logan? Why do you want to rip his head off?"

* * *

"You idiot!" Quicksilver stared down at the body in front of him, "You weren't meant to kill her!"

Juggernaut shrugged, "Not my fault. I didn't realise I'd hit her that hard."

"Is she breathing? Oh my god, what if she really is dead?"

"It was your stupid plan." Juggernaut scowled, "What was going to happen next anyway?"

"How can we ransom someone who's dead? She works for the government doesn't she? They'll send the CIA after us or something. After you at least."

"What!"

"You killed her."

They both stood, looking down at Professor Casey's crumpled form. Juggernaut frowned, trying to think.

"I had nothing to do with it." Pietro continued, "If you decide to hit someone over they head with a crowbar it's got nothing to do with – waah!"

Juggernaut grabbed hold of his arm, crushing it tightly, "You're not offloading this on me."

"You were the one who, aah, let go of me!"

"I'm not going back to prison on the word of Magneto's brat."

Pietro struggled hopelessly, tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes. "Let go, you're hurting me."

"What, and let you run off back to daddy?"

"You're going to have to let go at some time." Pietro said sulkily, trying to ignore the raging fire in his arm.

Juggernaut stared at him for a moment, the reached down and grabbed his leg. Pietro's face went white.

"Wait, what the hell are you…"

_Crack_

Juggernaut watched dispassionately as Pietro gave a high pitched scream and collapsed, his broken leg folding up under him at an awkward angle. Then he picked up the unconscious body, slung it over his shoulder and headed off.

* * *

Hmm. Probably the most brutal thing I've written so far. Please do tell me if I start to get a bit gratuitous.

And Pyro will be in the next chapter. I promise :)


	29. Flicker

Disclaimer: X men are not my property. See previous chapters for full disclaimer.

Flicker

"Dat Rogue." Gambit asked casually, "She really kill people?"

Pyro nodded. "Yep."

"Even mutants?"

"She drains their powers, then she kills them." He scowled, remembering a time that seemed long ago, when Rogue had owned his power.

"How long you got after she touch you?"

"Five minutes?" Pyro guessed, "Not too long."

Gambit sighed. "Not good den."

They were sitting in a deserted corner of the gardens, surrounded by trees. Everyone else was inside, with the exception of Sabretooth, who was dozing sprawled out near the lake. Pyro flicked open his lighter and sent a small flicker of flame up into the sky. "Why isn't it good?"

"Well, t'ing is, she's a good lookin' girl."

"You…you _fancy_ her?" Pyro asked, feeling a sudden quick stab of jealousy and wondering why.

The Cajun shrugged. "Been a long time since Gambit had a woman."

"Oh." A slightly larger flash of flame arced into the air. "You know she's going out with Bobby right?"

"Bobby?"

"Bobby Drake, Iceman."

"Him?" Gambit gave a small snigger, "I tell you homme, I had competition before; dis is not competition."

"Oh." Pyro tried to think of something to say.

Gambit shot him a slightly worried look. "You don' want her do you?"

"What, oh, no. It's fine."

"You don' look to happy homme."

"I'm fine. You just watch out she doesn't kill you."

* * *

Indio stared worriedly at Cerebro, jumping slightly as the door closed shut behind him. "Are you sure this will be safe."

"Don't worry about it kid." Wolverine said, trying his best to sound reassuring. "Just don't concentrate too much on anyone, and if it hurts too much take the helmet off.

"It should be fine." Hank smiled at him.

Indio nodded. Both men were worried, but none of them seemed to think that anything bad would happen to him personally. Logan's worries were for Rogue, Hank's for all the mutants currently in a coma.

Slowly, he approached the chair and sat down, his feet dangling slightly off the floor. In the background, he heard Logan's thoughts turn instantly to the Professor, and the mysterious Dr Grey that he thought of so much. He lifted the helmet and put it over his head, where it hung down to just above his eyes.

Silence.

For the first since he could remember, Indio heard complete and utter silence. No thoughts, no voices, not even the faint static in the background of people far away.

"Are you ready?" Hank asked. And Indio jumped again at the sound, which seemed odd coming with no preparation, no thoughts before it, no sign that anyone else was around.

"Yes." He whispered.

Logan moved forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "OK kid. Now concentrate, but not too much."

Indio nodded and closed his eyes, following the same thought processes he had back with the Silent Man's machine. A brief pause and then they were all there, the thousands of figures in blue and red, spinning into infinity.

"There's so many." He murmured.

"Take your time." Hank said gravely. "Try to find the ones who are ill."

Indio frowned, his mind flitting amongst the ghostly shapes. There were people standing, people sitting, people laughing, crying, shouting, hurting. The full spectrum of human emotion flew by him, leaving him feeling slightly dizzy.

Logan's hand tightened briefly on his shoulder.

"There's... there's no one ill. Some are not so well, but there are none who have collapsed."

Outside the flying whirls of sparkling people Logan and Hank exchanged worried glances.

"Try to find Magneto." Hank suggested.

"Your Silent Man." Logan explained.

Indio nodded, concentrating on retaining his own identity amidst the many souls surrounding him. Gently (remembering the effects of last time) he concentrated on the Silent Man, trying to remember his looks, his voice, his walk, everything about him.

"He's not here. There's no one…wait."

There. Just outside the spiralling colours that soared through his mind were other figures, not bright or sparkling but faded, ghostlike and grey. Quickly, he pushed through the last of the colours and stood among them. There was no emotion here, no wide rollercoaster of sound and light and feeling. Just dull grey flatness.

People floated in front of him, all the same. Limbs hanging, eyes either shut or vacant, no movement, no semblance of life at all. It made Indio feel slightly sick.

"I-I've found them."

Hank let out a small gasp of relief. "Is there anything you can do?"

Indio shook his head, more in confusion than denial. "I don't know."

But somehow, part of him did. These people had no thoughts, no feelings, no mind. He had spent his life hearing things from other people, now maybe it was time for things to flow the other way.

Slowly, he halted his mind, in the centre of the still grey shapes. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, this was it.

Concentrate. That was the key. Not to concentrate on anyone of them, but on all of them. To send out his thoughts, any thoughts, into the minds of all of them, a kick-start for the brain.

Concentrate.

* * *

In the mansion hospital Mystique's eyes snapped open.

* * *

A/N: That ending works better on film ;)

yay! I have discovered pagebreaks! I used to do little lines of dashes, but had no idea they were not coming out in the story (I swear they used too...) anyway, it's all OK now, and I might actually go back and clean up some of the other chapters.

I know the title is stupid. I could not think of a title! The best one would have been 'into the mind' but I used that for last time.


	30. Return

Disclaimer: See other chapters. None of the characters are mine.

Note: I've just gone back over all the other chapters and added page-breaks; hopefully they are now a bit easier to read.

Return

"Dr McCoy!" Kitty Pryde ran down the hall, skidding slightly at the corners, "Dr McCoy, Senator Lewison's just phoned. They've found Professor Casey's body and they want you to…oh."

The door to Cerebro was shut, and Scott was pacing nervously outside it.

"Mr Summers? Is, er, is Dr McCoy in there?"

Scott nodded, "Him, Logan and that new boy, Indio. They're trying to find a way to get the unconscious mutants back."

"Ah." She looked at him shrewdly. Working with Hank had taught her some of the intricacies of politics, if not all of its subtleties. "Do…do you want them to succeed?"

Scott turned, frowning. "Miss Pryde, there are a large number of people out there worried and concerned about this. If the problem were to resolve it would make things a lot easier."

But would it, she wondered, with Magneto and Mystique back. She wasn't sure. What was more, she didn't think Scott was sure either.

"How long will it take?" She asked staring worriedly at the metal door.

Scott shrugged. "They've been in there quite a while. Bobby's waiting in the hospital with Rogue, he'll call as soon as it starts working."

* * *

"We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files." Bobby hummed under his breath, "We'd like to learn to help you help yourselves."

Toad glared at him, "Shut up."

"Why, I can sing if I want to."

"It's driving me up the wall."

"It's not your mansion."

"It's not yours either!"

"That doesn't mean that you can…"

"Mort…" the voice was just a whisper, but somehow it cut through the argument. They both stared down at Mystique, her eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.

Bobby gaped, "Did she just speak?"

"Shut up ice-boy." Gently Toad leant down and took her hand. "Mystique?"

Her hand felt cold. Her breathing was short and rapid, her eyes stretched far too wide to be normal. "Lonely…so lonely."

Toad frowned. "Um…"

"Lonely and lost and worried and uhh." She blinked, and then took a deep shuddering breath, her eyes flickering to stare at him. "Wha- Mortimer?"

"Yeah." He broke into a smile, "Yeah it's me, you're back."

Next to them, Rogue gave a small cry. Bobby gave a gasp and reached down to help her.

"There was a fight." Mystique managed, still concentrating mostly on breathing. "What happened?"

"You keeled over." Toad felt the relief wash over him. Whatever happened now, Mystique would be with them. "You and Magneto and the Rogue girl. So we brought you back here and…wow."

The colour was sliding back over Mystiques body, blue replacing tan, scales replacing flesh. She held her hand up to her face, pushing herself upright with her elbow.

"It's all come back!"

"Dr McCoy?" Bobby yelled into the phone, "Logan, it's worked! They're back."

None of them noticed Magneto's eyes flicker open. He stared at the ceiling while the last of Indio's mind left him, his eyes never moving.

He was back. And suddenly, terribly, he wished that he wasn't. The grey still nothingness had been safety. A break from the ceaseless never ending trouble of the world. He was far too old now, in any other profession he would have retired years ago.

And Charles was dead. And everyone they'd started off with was dead (really started off with, before Mystique even, before Cyclops. Who remembered Sundance now? Or Auroch of the Apache?). Life had become just another series of days, of endless problems. Maybe it was time to wrap things up, or at the very least to hand over to someone else.

He shook his head and the feeling passed. He tried to forget it.

* * *

"Logan?" Hank whispered, gesturing at the receiver in his hand, "It's worked."

Wolverine nodded, letting out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Kid? All done."

Slowly Indio opened his eyes.

"All done?" Logan asked again, giving his shoulder a small shake.

Indio looked around, wide-eyed, before nodding, and pulling the helmet off with shaking hands.

"Well done." Hank smiled at him. "It's all sorted now."

"Are you alright?" Logan asked, helping him out of the chair.

Indio nodded, "I-I, there were, so many…"

"Take it easy kid, calm down, deep breaths.

Indio nodded again, then gave a gasp and vomited over Logan's shoes."

* * *

It started as a nonchalant walk back to the mansion, but turned into a full-scale sprint down to the hospitals as the news spread over the grounds. With Gambit narrowly in front, they rushed headlong through the door, almost running over Cyclops on the way.

"Mystique! You OK chere?"

"She just woke up." Toad explained, rolling his eyes and grinning as an annoyed Scott Summers pushed his way through the door behind them. "Just now, they had that kid using Cerebro, and he managed to do something."

"Nobody told us." Pyro complained sulkily.

"If you must have long meaningful talks in the middle of nowhere when we're having a conference then you're gonna miss things." Toad sneered.

"Quiet!" Gambit flapped his hands around importantly. "Did anyone t'ink to see if Magneto made it?"

There was a short pause, then Toad walked over to the bed at the end of the room, jumping back slightly when he realised the man's eyes were open. "Uh…Magneto?"

"Remembered me?" Mageneto didn't move. His voice was soft, but it cut through the room. Bobby and Scott fell silent and looked over, a little uneasy.

"You OK?" Gambit asked.

"I'm fine." Slowly, he pushed himself upright, turning to stare at them all. "No thanks, it seems, to any of you."

Toad looked worried, Scott looked nervous. Gambit tried a smile. "We t'ought you were still sleepin' boss. You got four times de dose, mais, maybe you didn't wake up yet."

"Did you check?"

"No." Toad mumbled, looking down at the floor as Magneto turned to face him.

"Eric." Mystique began, then stopped as he gave a small shake of his head.

The rather awkward silence was cleared by Scott giving a small cough. "Uh, you are welcome to stay at the mansion for as long as it takes you to recover.

"Thank you." Magneto nodded at him, "And then?"

"Well…" Scott hesitated, realising he had no idea what to say.

"You would push us out of the mansion Charles and I built?"

There was a time when Scott would have backed down, but since Jean's death something had changed, "I wouldn't. The Wolverine might."

* * *

A/N: Cyber-Cookies for anyone who knows what song Bobby's humming.

Hope you guys like the new page-breaks in this story. It took over two hours to edit everything with this crappy connection. But it does look a lot better :)

Please review, even if it's only two words (i.e 'good story'). I don't often beg for reviews (heh) but after doing all those bloody page-breaks I feel I deserve something.


	31. Hidden Dangers

Disclaimer: See other chapters

Disclaimer: See other chapters. None of the characters or anything are mine.

**WARNING: For the sake of realism and authenticity, I might have Juggernaut breaking into some fairly strong language in the coming chapters. Anyone who has strong views about this do tell me, and if enough people would rather it didn't happen I'll cut it out of following chapters (and edit this one).**

Hidden Dangers

Senator Lewison picked up the copy of his script and gave a small cough. In ten minutes time he was giving another speech, followed by another half-hour of nervously trying to answer questions. Casey dead, the murderers not found, and half the mutant population unconscious while the other half complained about it.

It was quite a good speech though, he had to admit. He hadn't actually written it himself, he was no good at speech writing, but he'd spent most of the night before reading over it, and it had seemed to be a higher standard than usual. It was fair and optimistic, promising all concerned that, despite current setbacks, the government was still vigorously (he frowned slightly at the word vigorously) searching for a way to end the current mutant crisis.

He gave a sigh, thinking of Casey's words. She'd seemed fairly certain, when he'd last seen her, that her science, or even any science, wouldn't be good enough. What was the use, he wondered, frustrated, of funding scientists if they couldn't answer the questions you wanted. They were there to answer questions! Surely.

He looked at his watch and stood up, unconsciously smoothing his suit down. Briskly he walked out of the door, and headed across the courtyard to the small podium from which he was to make his speech. There was already quite a crowd gathering beyond the media exclusion zone; the mutant issue was clearly a contentious one.

"Senator Lewison!" His secretary clicked across the courtyard towards him at the fastest speed her heels would allow. "Senator, wait."

"What is it?" He frowned, nodding at the usher standing by the stairs to the platform.

"Wait!" To his complete surprise she caught his arm, pulling him away from the steps. "Senator, the mutant problem."

"What, what about it. I need to be speaking in five minutes, surely it can…"

She shook her head, "It's, it's not a problem any more."

"What!" He stared at her, unable to believe his ears, "What do you mean."

"Senator Lewison?" The usher said urgently. "We need you up here now."

"They're all fine. Lenny just called me. Apparently they've all woken up."

"What! They can't just…"

"Senator, please, you need to start now."

"But…wait!"

Lewison staggered up the steps, recovering his balance in time to totter out behind the small table. Hastily he spread his speech notes out, clearing his throat out of habit, and blinking in the flashing lights of the cameras.

His secretary gave him a nervous smile from the bottom of the stairs.

He looked down at his notes.

He looked up at the crowd.

He cleared his throat again, even more nervously, and started to speak.

* * *

"I'll have a beer." Juggernaut growled, trying to look as indistinct as possible. He'd buried pretty much all of his armour and opted for a loose shirt, but his sheer size made it hard to feel secure.

"I want a drink too." Peitro snapped from the table nearest the door. His broken leg had been plastered and stuck out at an awkward angle.

The Juggernaut scowled, "Water for the kid."

"I don't want water!"

"Don't get lippy kid, unless you want something else broken!"

Pietro flinched slightly and turned away, moodily staring out the window.

The barman gave a small frown. "Is, uh, is that your kid?"

"Nephew." Juggernaut muttered, and then, remembering something he'd once heard a mother say in a shopping mall, "They're all the same at that age."

"What happened to his leg?" The barman continued, curious."

"Basketball accident." Juggernaut said quickly, not happy with the web of potentially forgettable lies.

"Oh." The barman raised an eyebrow, "He…doesn't look the sporty type."

"Yeah." Juggernaut threw some cash down and grabbed the drinks, "That's why he broke his fucking leg."

Peitro turned his back on him as he sat down. Resisting a strong urge to tip the water over the boys head, Juggernaut took a gulp of the beer.

"Why can't I have a drink?" Peitro said sulkily, feeling safe in the knowledge that the entire bar was watching them.

"You're too young." Juggernaut growled, glancing around the room at the clientele.

"I'm not too young! Father lets me drink and…what. What are you staring at?"

"_It is clear._" Senetors Lewison's voice announced from the television set (albeit in a rather tinny tone) _"That this murderous act was committed by mutants. The autopsy shows that Professor Casey was killed by a blow to the head far stronger than any normal human being could attain."_

"They found the body?"Peitro gasped, then turned to Juggernaut with a slightly more urgent tone, "They found the body!"

The Juggernaut shoved a hand over his mouth, "Shut it, kid."

"Um, excuse me?" The barman was looking at them oddly.

Juggernaut swore, picked up the beer, and drained it in one. The barman reached for the phone.

"I think you ought to stay, Sir."

"Don't try to stop me." Juggernaut snarled, grabbing Peitro and shoving him out the bar.

"You're a mutant aren't you?" The barman sneered, hastily dialling 999 under the table. "Worthless scum the lot of you."

There was complete silence in the room as the Juggernaut turned around.

* * *

"What was he doing?" Scott demanded, "I thought inciting anti-mutant feelings was out of fashion at the moment."

"I'll get on to it." Wearily, Hank pulled the phone towards him. "I probably won't be able to contact Lewison directly, but I will try to get hold of somebody and tell them our concerns."

"Our concerns! We could blast the place apart, the least they can do is-" Scott saw Hanks face, stopped, and took a deep breath. "Yes. Our concerns. Make them known."

"I'll open as many diplomatic channels as I can, Scott."

"Yes." Scott's shoulders slumped. "Hank, he didn't even mention the end of the 'mutant crises'. Just spent the entire time talking about how Professor Casey was murdered by mutants."

"It's possible he didn't know it was over?" Hank suggested.

"He should have mentioned it in some capacity! It's been headline news for the last few days. The last thing he needed to do was give the 'Friends of Humanity' more ammunition."

Hank shrugged. "At least Rogue is back again."

"And Magneto." Scott muttered.

Hank gave him a curious look, but decided not to press the matter. Scott was looking tired, and somehow older than he'd ever seen before. He looked less like a boy-scout and more like a war-veteran.

"What, uh, what are we doing about the school?" Hank asked.

Scott shook his head. "I don't know. Keeping it open I suppose. If there's anyone left to teach."

"There's you and Logan." Hank pointed out, "And I'll help when I can. Kitty Pryde could be taking classes, she's a clever girl. I don't suppose we could get in touch with, oh, what was his name. Kurt?"

"Wagner. No. He's in Europe somewhere. Romania I think. That should be enough though." Scott sighed. "I just can't help feeling that we're letting down the Professor somehow. He wanted this to be a safe-haven for mutants, and, well, if Lewison's feelings spread, it'll be more of a target zone. And with Magneto in here…"

Hank smiled at him. "Stop worrying Scott. Xavier would be proud of all of you."

"He had so many ideas though. So many ideals. And he always seemed like he knew how to reach them."

"Maybe he would have wanted you to make your own ideals now."

* * *

It was deserted, he'd made sure of that. Deserted except for her. Mystique had left as soon as she could stand, and Magneto was sitting on a bench, staring out over the lake. Bobby had gone off somewhere, the room was empty.

Apart from her.

Slowly, Gambit pushed open the door to the infirmary. "Uh, hey?"

Rogue looked up, staring suspiciously at the tall Cajun in the doorway. "What?"

"Uh, oh, hey chere. Didn' know you'd be here. Where's Mystique?"

"She's left." Rogue said.

"You know if she'll be here soon?"

Rogue shrugged, "I don't think she's coming back."

"Ah well." Gambit sat down on the empty bed. "Guess Gambit'll have to wait."

"Wait for what? I said she's not coming back."

He smiled. "Maybe."

"Suit yourself." Rogue turned back to her book, trying not to peak at him "Are you one of them then?"

"Gambit one of his self."

She looked up again, confused. "What does that mean?"

"Means I don' take crap off anyone."

"Oh."

He grinned at her, "Where did your man go?"

"What?"

"De ice-man"

"Oh, Bobby. He went to get some food."

Gambit shook his head. "And lef' you all alone."

"He has to eat some time." Rogue said defensively.

"I tell you chere, if I was lucky enou' to be your man I'd starve to death jus so I could keep lookin' at youse."

Rogue raised an eyebrow, "That's crazy!"

"Dat's how Gambit t'ink."

"Then 'gambit' is crazy."

"An' dats not all. I'd come under your window each nigh' an' play guitar at youse. Until I died of hunger an' you died of lack of sleep."

Despite herself, she gave a giggle.

"An' den you would get a funeral like no-one ever had before, chere. Dere'd be a hun'red people all wailin' and cryin' an' de whol' world would wear black jus for you. An' I'd get dis body chucked back in de' swamp, cuz Gambit ain't not'ing without you an' your love chere."

She swallowed nervously. There was something about his eyes; it was like being dragged down into twin lakes of fire. Nobody had ever spoken to her like this before, ever made her feel that she meant so much, in a voice like melted chocolate sliding under her skin.

He was getting closer. She tried to move away, but his eyes had caught her. A smooth gloved finger ran down her cheek.

"You jus t'ink about it chere. Dere's more than one fish in de sea, an' not all of dem is made of ice."

And then he was gone, and the door was swinging shut leaving a very confused Rogue behind it.

* * *

A/N: Hmm. Not sure about this chapter. I don't like the beginning bit, it seems too contrived.

Juggernaut is the only character I like in this chapter. Although Gambit's not too bad. And remember, Rogue is _sick_. And feeling _faint_. Which is why her character is so out. Yes.

Lol. Peitro is turning into Draco Malfoy (_father_ lets me drink). Heh.

Only got one review for the last chapter :( Are people still reading this or should I wrap it up somehow?


	32. Voyeurs, Violence and Vignettes

Disclaimer: See other chapters.

Voyeurs, Violence and Vignettes 

Swiftly, Toad pulled himself up onto the widow ledge, turning around to glance back down at Pyro. "C'mon fire boy, at this rate he'll be finished before you get anywhere."

"All right, not everyone's spent their life scrambling all over buildings." Pyro grumbled. "Are you sure they'll even be there."

Rolling his eyes, Toad leant down and, to Pyro's shame, pulled him up by the back of his jacket. "It's painful watching you fire-boy. Of course they're here, look."

Pyro nervously slid along the side of the windowsill, trying not to look down. "Both of them?"

"No, just the Cajun." Toad said sarcastically. "Of course both of them."

Cautiously, Pyro peered around the edge of the ivy. The room did indeed contain both Gambit and Rogue, standing close together and talking. Occasionally, Gambit would run a hand gently down her gloved arm.

Pyro gaped, "Woah."

Toad gave a grin. "Told you he was getting somewhere."

"But…the way he's looking at her. Why hasn't she flipped? Why isn't she shouting or storming off or trying to kill him?"

Toad shrugged, staring at the scene hungrily. "Dunno. Maybe because he's an empath."

"What?" Pyro shouted, accidentally jumping backwards and almost falling off the ledge. Hastily, he grabbed at a piece of ivy, managing to steady himself as Toad made frantic "shh" gestures at him. "But that's…immoral."

"Yeah, yeah. Maybe he's not using it or something. Just keep quiet will ya, I wanna watch and if he hears what we're up too…"

"That's cheating!" Pyro stared angrily at the window, then gulped. Gambit and Rogue were no longer gazing dreamily into each others eyes, instead they were staring, slightly shocked, at him and Toad, balancing precariously on the window ledge.

There was a moment of frozen silence. Toad was the first to react, "C'mon, move, move, get out."

Pyro scrabbled desperately downwards, the ivy tearing at his clothes and hands. He took the last few metres as a jump, stumbling to join Toad, who was streaking off into the wood. As they entered the trees they heard a window slam, accompanied by a faint Cajun voice, "Jus' you wait till I get hold of youse!"

They stopped, gasping for breath, once they were deep in the woods. Pyro leant against a tree, breaking into giggles as his lungs recovered, "Did, did, you see. Rogue's. Face."

Toad sniggered, "He's gonna have fun talking himself out of that one."

"Yeah." Pyro grinned, feeling only the smallest twinges of guilt.

Toad bit his lip. "Uh. It's not gonna be good fire-boy."

"What?" Pyro frowned. "What isn't?"

Toad shrugged. "You've only ever seen the good side."

"What good side?"

"Gambit's good side, who do you think? Last time he caught me doing that he half killed me. Mind you," Mortimer reflected, "He'd got a lot further that time."

"Ah." Pyro felt a horrid worming sort of feeling start in his stomach. "Would he really…get mad? I mean, it's just Rogue."

Toad leant back against a tree and shrugged. "No idea. You'd probably be alright though, you're his little protégé."

"What?"

"He likes you fire-boy. No idea why. He's always jibing at Sabretooth and he wouldn't give a penny for me, but he seems to treat you OK."

"No one else does." Pyro said automatically before realising that it was completely true.

Toad shrugged again, "Sabretooth hasn't tried to kill you yet. That's 'ok' for him."

* * *

"You were the one who smashed the place up! It wasn't me who got plastered all over the CCTV footage, all I did was aagh!"

Juggernaut stared scornfully down at Peitro now sprawled in the mud, "They found the body." He mimicked in a high falsetto."

Pietro pushed himself upright, unconsciously wiping the dirt off the side of his face, "So I panicked, fine, but it was still your fault they sent the cops after us."

Juggernaut reached down and hauled him upright, "Listen kid, it's no ones _fault_ anymore. We're in this together."

"You killed her, you buried the body, you smashed the bar up."

Juggernaut shook him, inwardly willing himself not to hit the kid again, "You got any fancy ideas about what we should do next then?"

"Call my father." Peitro suggested sulkily, ignoring the bruising pain in his arm where the Juggernaut was holding him.

"I'm sure an unconscious old has-been would be a perfect help." Juggernaut sneered.

"Get back to the mansion then, that's where all the others are."

"All your X-men friends, who are so sympathetic to murderers."

"Well _I'd_ be fine then. Pietro snapped.

Juggernaut stared at him, then viciously backhanded him round the face.

And, not without a certain amount of relief, Pietro passed out.

* * *

Hank sighed, "The problem is, is that an apology is a big thing in politics. By admitting he's wrong, Senator Lewison looses a huge amount of political credibility."

"Whereas if he doesn't apologise." Scott pointed out, "He looses the support of most of the mutant community."

"We have had an answer from his spokesman." Hank picked up a piece of paper and adjusted his glasses. "The Senator wishes it to be known that no offence was intended towards any members of the mutant community, save those who participated in the murder of Professor Casey."

"It didn't sound like that on the news." Scott said angrily.

Logan gave a quiet groan, inwardly rolling his eyes. More meetings, more paperwork, and how little it all amounted to. So one Senator had had a bit of a rant about mutants, that had never used to matter so much, why did it matter now?

"Scott, I can't continue pushing for a full apology; we are manifestly not going to get one."

"Then what do we do?" Scott demanded.

Logan cleared his throat, "Can't we just…leave it?"

They turned to look at him. Hank shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Things are happening far too fast at the moment."

"Ah." Wolverine shrugged , feeling awkward and slightly out of place.

The door opened, revealing a very worried looking Bobby behind it. "Um, sorry, Kitty said you were in here. I, uh, could I speak to Logan?"

Wolverine stood up quickly, "Sure thing kid."

Hank shot an amused glance at Scott, "Are you sure you don't mind us continuing without you?"

"No, no. Go ahead. You and Cyc seem to have it pretty much covered." As swiftly as he dared, Logan left, giving a relieved sigh as the door shut behind him.

"Alright Iceman, what is it."

"I'm sorry to bother you Sir, uh, Logan." Bobby was looking more nervous by the minute. "It's just, it's about Rogue."

Logan's eyes narrowed slightly, "What about Rogue."

"She, she isn't spending so much time with me."

Logan raised an eyebrow, "I hate to say this Iceman, but your little lovers tiffs are not really my problem."

"But, it's not just that it's, well, you know that Cajun mercenary, who works for Magneto."

"Yes." Logan growled.

"She's spending more and more time with him. I know that you probably think I'm just being stupid and paranoid." Logan opened his mouth to speak, but Bobby ploughed on, "She's acting differently. She did love me, I know she did, but now it's like I always seem to be in her way. All she's interested in is getting in a room alone with him. She's still young you know and, well." Bobby blushed, "Still…innocent. I just don't think he's got particularly…honourable intentions."

"Gambit?" Logan gave a short bark of laughter, "Me and him need to have a talk."

"It's not just that I'm afraid of loosing her." Bobby added helplessly. "I just don't want to see her get hurt."

"Sure thing kid." Wolverine blinked. His headache seemed to be coming back and the floor was looking slightly fuzzy, and then…

_Sand. Sand covering the horizon as far as he can see. The road is dusty, the cart is dusty, there's the sound of a woman shouting and a baby crying. The smell of dust in his nose, the taste on his lips. The cart has stopped, but he knows it will be moving soon, he does not know where they're going or why, just that they are travelling through an empty terrifying land, a broken land, from dust to dust._

_He looks down at the road. He's barefoot, and his feet have already made their mark in the sand. And he realises with shock that they are far too small to be his, and he holds his hand up to his face, that is too small as well, and there's a long thin cut on it, that scabbed over yesterday and is still here…_

"Logan?"

Wolverine blinked. Bobby was looking at him strangely.

"Are you alright? You went sort of…vague."

Wolverine shook his head as the last of the memory faded. "I'm fine kid. Just got a bit of a headache, that's all."

* * *

"Are you alright?" Indio asked timidly.

Rogue glanced at him suspiciously, "Of course I'm alright. Why. Who are you?"

"I am Indio." He took a deep breath, "I don't think you are alright."

"What?"

"Don't worry." He added quickly, 'I did not read your mind, I read your face."

_What!?_ "You read my mind!"

"No. I didn't. I mean I did but I can't help it. I saw your thoughts, but Logan said I was not to tell anyone I could." He bit his lip nervously, "I didn't want to make you nervous."

He looked so mournful that Rogue had to smile. "You didn't make me nervous. Well, just a little bit. Are you still reading my mind?"

Indio looked awkward. "I can't really stop. I just hear people's thoughts."

"Ah." _Hmm. This could prove very interesting. Crap he can hear this as well, can't he. _"So you can hear everyone's thoughts then?"

He nodded, "But I'm meant to pretend I can't."

"And Logan told you that?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. I wonder what Logan's thinking then?" She looked down at Indio, "I can probably guess."

"He's…worried about you." There. He'd said it. Indio, in his own small complicated way, had decided he liked the Wolverine, who had helped him, and not talked down to him or ignored him. Wolverine was worried about this girl, so Indio was worried about her too.

She gave a short impatient sigh, "Everyone thinks I can't look after myself." _I know what I'm doing! Gambit is…nice. Special. Not like Bobby, obviously. It's just Bobby is so…childish. So young. And Gambit is just fun to be with. He cares about what I think he listenes to me, and he knows funny jokes. Everything he says is so wild and magical and extravagant. It's like he has this little world that you can become part of._

Indio frowned slightly, not quite sure whether he understood this internal outpouring of teenage emotions. It was a world he was just teetering on the brink of, and had not quite entered.

"Tell Logan not to worry." Rogue said decisively. "And don't you worry either." _He's kind of a sweet little kid. I guess Logan's adopted another stray. Like he did with me, except I'm not that girl anymore. I can take care of myself now, and I can certainly take care of Gambit if any…trouble between us happened._

_I know what I'm doing. I think I know anyway._

_I hope I know._A/N: A couple of people seem fairly adamant that this story should continue. So it will :) Even with the mind-bogglingly silly chapter titles.

* * *

Ach, Rogue's character is bloody impossible to get. Sorry if it seems a bit weird.

Logans memories are fun to write.


	33. Late Afternoon

Disclaimer: see other chapters.

Late Afternoon

Magneto sat on the bench, staring out over the lake and to the woods beyond. He'd spent the whole day here, sitting, staring and thinking. Thinking of the past, thinking of the future, as the present quietly slipped by in uncounted seconds.

He was old. He'd had his days in the sun, his days at the head of the protests. He'd had the days before the mansion, then the time with Charles, and finally the years with the brotherhood. And now he was an old man sitting on a bench looking out over a lake. Looking, but hardly seeing, his mind was far away. He barely noticed Toad and Pyro's mad dash for the trees, or Sabretooth snoozing by the bank of the lake.

"Do you know you've been sitting there all day?"

Frowning, Magneto looked up. Not very far up, as the perpetrator of the question was a young boy, with owlish glasses that seemed far too big for him. He blinked rapidly as Magneto caught his eye, one trainered foot scuffling at the grass.

Magneto smiled, "Shall I tell you a story?"

The boy shrugged and pulled himself up onto the bench. "I wanted to stay and watch TV, but they said I should spend some time outside."

"Very commendable." Magneto murmured.

The boy gave a deep sigh, "It's the same every evening."

"That must be hard." Magneto said, his mind still drifting, still lost in another life, another era.

"What kind of story?" The boy asked, deciding that any sort of amusement might be preferable to an evening staring at the scenery.

"It's about four friends."

"Are there aliens?"

Magneto raised an eyebrow. "Oh yes."

"Go on then." The boys eyes flickered rapidly behind his glasses, "Do you know I'm missing the serial? They had a guy stuck behind a glass door and I'll never know what happened."

"Four friends." Magneto repeated. "And this was a long time ago, before mutants were talked about. They were still around, but people used to…dispose of them. Quietly. Or ignore them. Most people barely knew they existed."

The boy glanced at him suspiciously, "Is this a true story?"

"All stories are true, for a given value of true."

"Oh."

"They were wild in those days." Magneto continued. "The four friends. And they thought they were invincible. It was…semi-vigilante work I suppose. Rescuing mutants, helping children, it's easy to be immortal when you're young."

"What happened?" The boy asked, swinging his legs back and forward.

"Two of them died."

"Oh." The boy considered this. "How?"

"In an alleyway in the dark." Magneto was lost now, far away in another world. "And Sundance was laughing. We'd just found Mystique, pulled her out of the rubble, the first time I ever saw her she was drenched in his blood. He was laughing. He didn't even see them, none of us did, we never thought to keep guard. We were far too brave for that. Four shots, two deaths."

The boy edged away from him slightly.

"And then there were two and the wild days were over. They build a place, a place for mutants to be safe."

"Is that the end?" The boy asked, it was where most of Storm's stories had seemed to end up.

Magneto shook his head. "They had an argument. Not at first, oh at first it was fine. Builders all over the place, thousands of plans. Summers kept stealing their helmets and trying to help, he must have been, oh, only fourteen. Skinny as a rake, used to flinch anytime anyone looked at him.

"But one of them wanted a mutant base they could call a school and the other wanted a school that they could call a mutant base. There was a…disagreement."

No fighting, no arguments. Just a civilised talk, man to man. Xavier sitting at his desk, both of them, just talking. He'd had a paperclip floating in his hands, twisting it out of shape, out of form, beyond use.

Then he'd walked out, and Mystique had walked out with him. They'd gone to make their own way in the world.

"What happened in the end?" The boy asked impatiently.

Magneto shook his head. "One of them died and the other retired."

The boy frowned, "That's not a very good ending. And there weren't any aliens."

"Ending's usually aren't very good." Magneto commented. "The world is like a spiral. Time moves on, but humanity repeats itself. Over and over again."

* * *

Gambit turned as the door creaked open, breaking into a smile which faltered only slightly when the door moved back far enough to reveal not Rogue, but Wolverine standing behind it.

Gambit gave him an affable nod. "Afternoon."

"We need a talk, LeBeau."

"We do?" Gambits eyes darted around nervously, as he inwardly kicked himself for choosing a room with only one exit.

"About Rogue."

"What abou' Rogue?"

"You and Rogue." Wolverine shut the door behind him and, as an afterthought, slid the bolt across.

"What's dat to you?" Gambit responded, trying not to reveal just how much the little metallic creak of the bolt had shaken him. "She your girl?"

"No." Wolverine moved closer, still blocking the way to the door. "I just don't want to see her get hurt."

Gambit shrugged, and tried a light smile, "She wants to be wit' me homme, dere's not much you can do abou' dat."

With a small growl Wolverine strode forward and grabbed the front of the tan coloured trench-coat, pushing him up against the wall, "I heard enough from Sabre' about you and women LeBeau, you hurt that girl in any way and I'll be right there waiting."

Gambit swallowed, "Dis ones different. 'Sides, from what I heard, dere's going to be a problem wit' me touching her anyway."

Wolverine blinked, shaking his head as some of the Cajun's charm filtered into his brain, "Does she know you're an empath?"

"What?"

Wolverine shook him, "You can change how people think LeBeau, don't deny it!"

"Affect." Gambit croaked, "I can affect what people t'inking. But can't make dem feel anyt'ing they don' want to."

Wolverine stared at him, then let go, watching impassively as the man stumbled slightly, "I'll be watching."

"Why don' you trust me Logan? Maybe it never occurred to you dat you're not de only one who don' want dat girl hurt."

Wolverine shrugged. "I never trust mercenaries."

"You were one once." Gambit shot back.

"Yeah. That's why I don't trust them."

* * *

The shadows were lengthening over the lawn. It was Indio's favourite time of day, in the evening, just before sunset. Scott had locked the doors of the mansion, but it was easy enough to slip out of a first-floor window and slide down the side of the ivy.

Indio loved the mansion, with the crumbling ornamented stonework, and the big clean rooms. They had a room just to eat food in, and he had a room all for himself to sleep in, in an enormous bed that gave him the creeps so much that he preferred to sleep under it. He loved the gardens with the wide open green spaces, the lake that was always full of clean water, and the fountain that played continuously.

How could Rogue not be happy, living in a place like this?

He skirted around the pond, enjoying the feeling of crisp cool grass under his feet. Shoes were another thing that gave him the creeps; he preferred to see what his feet were standing in. The forest loomed ahead of him, pushing shadows out to the tips of his toes, with the sun beginning to sink behind it.

_Oh man, we're lost again. I knew the mansion was the other way. Huh, last time I trust Toad to know the directions._

There were thoughts coming from the forest. Frowning, Indio crouched down in the grass, concentrating hard, trying to work out who it was. There seemed to be two separate thoughts, two separate people.

_It's getting dark oh shite, hope we get back before then, although I guess the longer we leave it the less chance we stand to get a pounding from the Cajun, hopefully he just saw Pyro, although I bet he'll know it was me._

_Uh, it's getting dark, how can he expect me to know the way back? OK, so I used to live in the mansion, but that doesn't mean I know the directions for everywhere. Why the hell did we run in here in the first place? Gambit wouldn't care that much, Toad always overreacts anyway._

Indio closed his eyes, trying to shut out any other stimuli. As well as the two lost voices there were…other thoughts. Three of them. Also coming from the forest.

_Somewhere around here, I swear the boss said it was here. A whole mansion full of the scum…_

_Why did we have to bring Jaycee? She'll go mad, she always does, she's fine for a raid but never for a kidnapping…_

_Dammit, I knew this was a bad idea, wait, what was that…_

Indio's eyes snapped open, staring in horror at the forest.

_Oh man, was that a twig cracking? It was probably the Toad, yeah, probably, huh, he's clumsy enough, and I wish it wasn't getting so dark._

_There's someone else here, there's someone else here, probably Gambit trying to scare the crap out of us. Heh, fire-boy's looking scared._

_There they are, right in front, two of them thank god, which means even if Jaycee does go mad, there'll be at least one left alive to bring back._

_There they are. I'll kill 'em. Scum, shite, unholy demons I don't care what the boss said, if one of them even thinks about trying to fight back it counts as provocation._

_There they are, has Kain seen? Oh. Right, well here goes._

Indio shivered, his breathing shallow, his eyes staring wild. Two people were trapped in the forest and, it seemed, three were hunting them.

_Woah! What the hell is…"_

"_SHite! Move it fireboy, get out!"_

"_Yeah! Not so fucking superior now huh?"_

"_OK, go…"_

"_Whaa!"_

"_Shite."_

"_Killkillkill."_

A large fireball erupted from the forest. Indio gave a gasp and ran back to the mansion, his bare feet skidding in the damp earth.

* * *

A/N: Serious question now which may Influence Further Writing: Was that last part too confusing?

In case it was, the general idea is that Pyro and Toad got lost in the forest, blundered around for a bit, and then engaged in hostilities (lol) with three unknown persons, one of whom seems to be called Jaycee, another one whom may be named Kain.

And in case the first part was, Magneto is reminiscing about the time before him and Charles set the school up. Sundance was one of his friends back then. I'm pretty much cobbling together back-story from all sorts of places.

My favourite character in this is Little Scott Summers even though he only cameos for about five seconds in a flashback thingy. (heh).


	34. Dying's Very Easy

Disclaimer: see other chapters

Dying's very easy…

"Remy?" Rogue knocked on the door.

Quickly Gambit shrugged off his trench coat, pulled the blinds down and lit a candle. "C'm on in chere."

Shyly, Rogue slid the door open, hugging her jacket close around her, "I decided to wear something nice, you mustn't laugh."

He gave a wide, lopsided smile, "Chere I wouldn' laugh at youse if you whatever you was wearing."

"Alright." Nervously, she opened the jacket revealing a white lacy nightgown that hung down low from her shoulders, "I didn't really know what to get, and I don't know anyone else to ask so I hope it's…" Her voice trailed off as Gambit walked towards her and slid the jacket off her shoulders.

"Chere, you look perfect."

She smiled, relieved.

"You look like an angel, an angel come down into Gambit's life to make it all worth somet'ing again." He ran a hand down the side of her arm, quickly and lightly, enjoying the slight tingle of skin on skin.

"I-I'm glad you like it."

"Shh." Slowly, he began to stroke her hair, guiding her gently to the bed, where they sat down. "You don' never need to fuss 'bout what dis Cajun t'ink of youse. Nor worry 'bout what he's gonna do."

She gave a small sigh, "I guess there's some things we just can't do."

He looked up at her, mischief sparkling in his eyes, "An' dat makes you unhappy, non?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"The t'ought that we can't…well." Quickly, he ran a finger down her cheek, "Somet'ing tells me dat my Roguey want to go further."

She blushed, "I…I really am going out with Bobby."

He pulled away, slightly shocked, "You mean he doesn't know 'bout dis all? You in… dat." He waved a hand expressively at her nightgown.

Rogue sighed, "I'm gonna tell him tomorrow. Just need a bit of confidence first. I mean…I just like talking with you. When I'm with him it's…different."

"Dif'rent how?" He resumed stroking her hair, which smelt like jasmine.

"More…annoying."

He laughed at that and then quickly reached over and gave her the shortest, most fleeting of kisses.

Rogue gasped and sprung back, her hands to her lips.

"Chere, relax."

"Remy, you do know about my powers don't you, you know that if you…"

He held his fingers to her lips, holding them there for just a second before reluctantly moving them away. "Don' worry. Remy got it all under control."

She leant against his shirt, "This really isn't fair on Bobby."

Gently, Gambit slid down the headboard so that they were lying down side by side. "Worl' isn't fair, ma patite, but dats how it is. If Iceman can't see what's in front of his face, dats his problem, an' my beautiful girl don' need to worry 'bout it."

"Mmm." She snuggled up against him. Slowly, he turned and gave her another kiss, just as short.

"Dis is gonna drive us both mad, petite."

"Kiss me Remy. Please. I can't hurt you, I know I can't, I love you too much." She swallowed, desperately wanting it to be true.

He looked into her eyes and saw the uncertainty. "You let me pull away if t'ings get bad tho'."

She nodded, wondering why it was she always felt so safe with him.

He smiled, a long easy beautiful smile. And then he was coming towards her, her lips were parted; he could see her breath rising and falling beneath the lace. His lips were on hers, warm and slightly chapped, she gave a small gasp into his mouth that made him feel dizzy.

And then the dizziness was growing, there was a pounding in his head, it was hard to breath, the world was swirling. He kept going, trying to drink in as much of her as possible, the smell of her, the taste, the feel of her soft skin. Nausea built up inside him, his breath was rattling in his throat, there were black spots covering his vision. He left it as long as he could before falling away, feeling weak and drained, to suddenly find himself facing two eyes of red, with deep black surrounding them.

"Woah." He murmured, trying hard not to faint or throw-up. "Dat…was quite some kiss…"

Rogue blinked at the new power running through her. A faint frown crossed her face. "You…you're an empath…"

"Ah." He squinted at her, through the fuzzy unsettled world, trying to work out how she was reacting.

She scooted backwards across the bed, pulling the nightdress up as high as it would go. "No wonder it always felt so perfect!"

Gambit sighed, still concentrating on bringing the world back into focus, "Leave it chere."

"What do you mean leave it!" Her eyes blazed red, "How do I know what you've made me think?"

"Stop bein' stupid girl. I didn't make you t'ink anyt'ing. You chose dis all on your own." He pushed himself up and gave a groan, "An' I'm t'inking Iceman got a lucky escape."

"What!"

"Uh…" Gambit tried to think. "I didn' mean dat, you know I didn'. Ah, don' put the jacket back on."

"I though you said you didn't care what I wore."

The nausea was starting to go, but his head was still pounding, which was possibly why his brain continued along the suicidal path it had started, "Chere, I say all sorts of t'ings, but what man's not gonna prefer you in a lacy t'ing where youse jus' a second away from falling out over de top."

She stared at him angrily, her eyes fading back to their normal colour, her face still just as angry. "Well…"

"Ah no chere, don' go…" The door slammed shut behind her. Wearily Gambit sank back onto the covers wondering vaguely why, despite everything that had just happened; all he wanted to do was kiss her again.

* * *

There was something over his head that smelt of grime and flour. The floor was moving, in a bumpy rugged way that made him feel slightly seasick. His hands were tied behind his back and his legs were caught up in something. His head hurt like mad and the side of his arm was stinging.

All in all, Pyro decided, it was probably the worst he'd ever felt upon waking up.

He tried to speak, but all that came out was a weak sort of croak. Licking his lips, he tried again. "Toad?"

No answer.

Pyro began to feel slightly panicky. What had happened? They'd been wandering through the woods; lost, angry and bickering. There'd been a noise and then … they'd been attacked? He remembered a man with what looked like an axe, he'd been going to fry them but something had hit him around the head and the fireball had gone out of control.

Maybe Toad had got away, he certainly hoped so. Although a very scared and somewhat selfish little part of him was rather hoping that Toad_ hadn't_ got away, then at least there would be someone else with him, someone who could possibly help.

He swallowed, trying to crush the panicking feeling that was starting to attack him in waves. He wasn't dead, that was a good point. Whoever had captured them didn't want them dead. Toad might be safe, that was another good point. Toad would run back to the mansion and tell…who?

Who would care what had happened to him? More to the point, who would do anything about it?

Mystique? She had problems of her own. Toad maybe, and possibly Sabretooth, but he couldn't see them deciding to set out on their own. Yesterday he would have said Gambit, certainly, but after the events of the last few hours he was no longer sure. Magneto didn't seem to care about _anything _any more. He'd spent every day since his recovery sitting on a bench in the garden, staring at the lake.

The X-men? Not a chance!

The self-pity at least washed away some of the terror. It also gave his senses enough time to catch up, and put forward the hesitant suggestion that they were probably in some sort of motor vehicle. Furthermore, his legs seemed to be caught in a net, and whoever had tied his hand up had certainly done a good job of it.

He struggled slightly, but gave up fairly rapidly. This was clearly not an escape situation and…

They'd taken his lighter.

They'd _taken_ his _lighter_!

The flamethrower device attached to his arm was no longer there, the strips of cotton that held it in place had been torn away.

And without the lighter, Pyro was helpless.

* * *

Indio raced through the mansion, desperately searching for Wolverine's thoughts. The mansion was oddly quiet, few people thought in their dreams, at least, not that he could hear. Somewhere below him Scott and Hank were worried about something, on the other side of the mansion, Rogue was upset, the Cajun man was…ill, and from the danger-room he could hear Colossus, desperately trying to train.

But there was no sign of Wolverine.

He hid behind a pillar as Rogue rushed past him _Oh no what have I done, I shouldn't have run away, now he'll never speak to me again, how could he say that, oh god what do I do, I should go back to Bobby but I can't do that. I should tell Bobby, but how can I now that I've messed it all up, why did I run away I almost killed him, maybe I did, maybe he's dead, but I can't go back now._

And then he heard it, coming from somewhere to the left of him, _Why do I keep having these weird…memory things. That kid must have screwed something up in my mind pretty good. Are they memories? Or is some other psychic mucking around in my head. Jason made visions didn't he? Maybe there's another mutant like that. I really need to speak to the Professor._

He followed the sound of Logan's thoughts, keeping to the shadows, hiding again as Scott walked past _Well there's not much we can do now, it's down to Lewison although what he'll do is anyone's guess, stupid idiot, why on earth he came out with all that rubbish…_

At last he reached the door, and gave a timorous knock. "Logan?"

"What?" The voice didn't sound particularly friendly, but Logans thoughts were still baffled and bewildered_. _Indio pushed the door open and stepped in.

"It's me, Indio."

"Oh. Right. What do you want kid?"

Indio frowned at the thoughts he was receiving, "Did you have another vision-memory thing?"

Logan gave a short laugh, "Can't hide anything from you, kid. Yeah. It was me, I think it was me, standing on watch while a bunch of guys busted a safe open."

"Ah."

"Was that what you came in here to hear?"

"Oh, no. I was just…walking near the woods." Indio looked a little sheepish at Logan's grin, "It was only just past night-time. I climbed down the ivy."

"That's no problem to me kid, escape whenever you want, just stay safe."

Indio nodded, "But then I heard…thoughts. From the wood. There were two people in there, I think they were mutants, and they were being…hunted."

Logan frowned. "Who were they?"

Indio tried to remember what he'd heard, "Toad. I think. And…Pyro."

Logan gave a shrug. "They don't really have anything to do with us?"

"But they were taken away! Their thoughts stopped coming!"

Wolverine shook his head again, then stopped, noticing the look of visible distress on Indio's face. "Look kid, I don't like it any more than you but they're…"

What?

_Kids. They're just kids. One stupid teenager and one young adult who's been through far too much crap._

He thought of St. John, laughing and joking with Bobby, and of Toad, curled up desperately on the stone floor, the scars on his back.

Muttering under his breath, Logan got up and pulled on a coat. "C'mon kid, lets get Scott up and find out what the hells going on."

--

A/N: Some confusion may have been caused by the use of the name Kain in the last chapter. Just to clarify, Kain in my universe is NOT Juggernaut but someone else. Juggernaut doesn't really have a name.

And in case anyone was interested, the title is from the Hanging Song, by Fairport Convention. The chorus goes:

Shake the holy water

Summon up the guard

Dying's very easy

Waiting's very hard.

Which might give you a clue to the title of the next chapter btw :)

(It was apparently a common English custom in the Middle Ages that if you tried to hang someone three times, and each time the trapdoor failed to open, then God obviously didn't want them to die, and they were let off. This song is about a bloke in this position, he walks up three times and each time the trapdoor gets stuck when the lever's pulled. An odd subject for a song maybe, but there you go).


	35. Interlude

A/N: Short chapter as I'm only a week away from exams (flails and panics)

WARNING: CONTAINS SOME QUITE GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

Interlude

If he'd had to choose four people to help him search in a forest for missing mutants Wolverine would not have chosen Indio, Colossus, Sabretooth and Gambit. Two of them were too young, the other two…untrustworthy. But they'd been the only ones awake, the only ones whose thoughts Indio could see and find, and with the kid panicking there hadn't been all that much time to spare.

He wondered where Scott had got too, he hadn't been in his room and a brief search in the basement had been fruitless.

His headache was coming back.

They'd started at the charred patch where Pyro's flames had hit the trees. The tracks had led on from there, bringing them too the edge of the wood and then finally to…

"A truck." Sabretooth bent down to take a closer look at the marks the tires had made. "Look's like they got bundled into the back of a truck."

"I can go get a car or somet'ing." Gambit volunteered, "Won' take long to catch up wit dem."

"We should wait for the others." Colossus said.

"By morning dey could be anywhere."

"They could be anywhere now! We don't know where that truck went, and…uh…Professor Logan?"

Wolverine was leaning against a tree, his breath harsh, sweat dripping down his face.

Indio swallowed nervously, "Um, he's…dreaming."

"Dreaming?" Sabretooth frowned.

"Or something, I don't know, but I can't hear his thoughts anymore. He gets sort of…memories."

Sabretooth gave a short bark of laughter, "He's weapon X, we don't get memories.

Colossus stared at his former teacher, slightly scared, slightly unsure.

_Running, running through the streets, the sound of pursuit behind him, he's too busy looking behind him, he doesn't see the figure looming up infront of him, the figure who grabs his arms, twists them behind his back, ignores his struggles._

_The persuit catches up. He's twisting, turning, kicking, desperately trying to get free, but the man at his back isn't budging, and the men in front of him really aren't looking happy. He tries to remember what he's done, and knows with utter chilling certainty that it's not something he'll be forgiven for."_

_One of the men steps forward and gives a little smirk. "Looks like we finally caught up with you, eh shrimp?"_

_Logan snarls at him, but inside he's terrified, more scared than he's ever been and thinking 'I'm gonna die I'm gonna die oh sweet lord this is it.'_

_The man waves a hand, he's wearing expensive gloves, it would be funny if he weren't about to die. Another man walks forwards, he's not wearing gloves, he's not wearing anything expensive except a heavy gold ring that, three seconds later, smashes into Logan's face._

"_We trusted you kid, we thought we had a deal." Says the man with the gloves, while his accomplice continues to smash out, again and again. His fists work up and down Logan's body, and Logan can feel his ribs splintering, his stomach heaving, his face is a bloodied mess, he's trying to scream through blood and vomit and pain. The man behind him continues to hold him up, he's not standing anymore, he's just a limply hanging punch-bag._

_The gloved man waves his hand again and mercifully, it stops. Logan manages to gasp a breath, but it hurts, oh it hurts, hurts his mouth hurts his lungs, there's something sharp in his mouth, swilling through the blood and he realises it's one of his teeth, lost in the sharp tangy taste of blood._

"_After all," Says the man, "We are a business, we must set standards, make…examples."_

_Logan gives a moan, he wants to speak, he wants to tell them he'll do anything, anything they want, please, please stop the pain, his feet try to stand, scrabbling on cobbles, but the man holding him twists his arms violently and he slumps again, hanging limply._

_The man makes another guesture, his eyes not leaving Logan's and then Logan does throw up because there's a new man in front of him and this one's carrying a knife, the vomit splashes all over his feet mixed in blood and sweat. He thinks please let it be quick, that's all, please let it be quick oh sweet dear lord please._

_It isn't quick. And afterwards they throw him in the gutter to die. He's surfing now, riding on waves of pain. There's on odd crunching sound from his ribs, he waits for a bright light and then remembers that there's no heaven for him anymore, no heaven for young men who run away from home, who stop going to church, who work in the underworld._

_The pain is starting to dim. He gives a gasp of relief, finally he's dying, finally it will all be over, no more pain, no more terror._

_Even his breathing is becoming easier. The pain is definitely going, he wonders if maybe he will make it into heaven after all, the splits on his lips have gone, his mouth no longer tastes of blood._

_Slowly, fearfully, he opens his eyes._

_He's still in the gutter._

_His body tenses. His mind whirls into panic, what's happening, is it some sort of trick? Are they going to catch him and do it all again? Has it just been an odd dream?_

_He pulls himself up and, terrified, looks down. His shirt is still ripped, a long jagged line, but while he should be seeing his stomach split open like a gutted fish, all he sees is fresh clean skin._

_His arm is no longer broken, his ribs no longer smashed, his fingers all present, all unbroken._

Gambit stared at Wolverine's face, "Woah."

"What?" Indio asked fearfully.

"You won' believe dis. I t'ink he's crying."

* * *

Yeah…this is what comes out when I'm exam stressed.

Sorry for the gore factor. Heh. My exams finish on the 6th June so expect pretty much hiatus until then. Hope enough of you weren't too freaked out by this, but I wanted something fairly phenominal for Wolverine's first discovery of his mutant powers :)


	36. On the Move

Disclaimer: See other chapters

A/N: Have not written for ages, so style might be a bit sloppy.

_Edit: gah! Forgot the page breaks! All sorted now.._.

On the Move

Whoever had tied the knots around his wrists had evidently not had much sympathy for hopeful escapees. Pyro spent the rest of the journey trying to untie them, with no luck at all.

Eventually the bumpy, jerky movement of whatever vehicle they were in stopped. There was silence, a few muttered voices in the distance and then suddenly light, bursting in and revealing that the canvass hood over his head had quite large holes in it, he could see (albeit slightly hazily) a short skinny man standing in front of him.

"This them?" The man said, looking uncertain.

Them. That meant he wasn't alone. Desperately Pyro tried to twist around, looking for Toad.

The man gave a hacking laugh that turned into a cough. "Looks like one of them's still alive."

One of them? Did that mean Toad was…? He could see a figure, lying beside him, but it looked awfully still. He nudged it with the side of his shoulder and whispered, "Toad?"

"Alright get them in then." The man continued. Something hard and heavy landed on Pyro's head, and he passed out.

* * *

Sabretooth drove, because Colossus was sulking, Indio was too young, Wolverine was in no fit state to do _anything_ and Gambit technically still didn't have a licence.

Colossus stared out of the window, avoiding looking at anyone and fiercely trying to justify his own involvement in the proceedings to himself. They couldn't be trusted, that was it, and without him the brotherhood would outnumber the X-men. Scott wouldn't want that. Even though they were on a rescue mission for people who had nothing to do with them.

"Are you alright?" Indio asked Logan, desperately seeking reassurance.

_Fuck no kid. And you know it, you can read my mind. You know everything but, yeah, I know what you want. You may be a weird freaky mutant from the back-alleys but you're still a kid and all you want is some adult to tell you it's OK._

"Yeah. I'm fine." Wolverine tried a brief grin. "Just a bit…shaken that's all."

"You were crying!" Gambit crowed from the front.

"Shut it Cajun."

"Actually crying. Dat's one t'ing I thought I'd never see."

Sabretooth shot Gambit an annoyed look and he fell silent. "So. Your memories are coming back?"

"Yep." Wolverine said lightly. _Dammit Sabre' I don't know why. I'm not even sure I want it to happen anymore. I've got a new life now, the last think I need is awkward facts about the past coming up._

_What is dis all about heh? Weapon X, wasn't Sabre in dat? Was the Wolverine too? Looks like dis is gonna be an interesting roadtrip._

_Weapon X. I remember that. But nothing else. That was how it was. That was the deal. Till someone decided to break out and be a rough-travelling cage fighter. I don't even think I want any memories back. What if it turned out I had a wife or something? A Mrs Creed and lots of little Creeds. Crazy. Leave it all behind, that was the deal. Why the hell he wants them back I don't know._

_Someone has to be here, someone from the X-men. That makes it all legal, all legit. There's law here. That's what it's about, that's the whole point of America, they have laws. I mean, they still have drug barons and all that, but well, sometimes, occasionally people think about trying to maybe do something about stopping it._

Indio curled up with his hands over his ears trying to block out the sounds he knew he never could.

"Do we, uh, do we know where dey went?" Gambit asked, in an attempt to get back to the task in hand.

"We can track them." Sabretooth grunted. "Tyre tracks lead to a road, road doesn't change too often. Besides, the smell's still there."

"What does it smell of?" Colossus asked, interested despite himself.

"Gas." Said Sabretooth, "And old tyres. Whoever took them needs to get a tyre change pretty quick."

"Smells of fear." Wolverine added. "And blood."

Sabretooth nodded, putting a bit more power on the accelerator. "Toad's."

Wolverine raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"

"Yep. Smells different."

Wolverine looked down at Indio and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "C'mon kid. Don't worry."

_Don't worry. Huh. Every thought in the room is probably telling him otherwise. Hell, we shouldn't have brought him, he's just a kid._

_It's a very distinctive smell. And I've certainly been around it a bit, he's an up-close fighter, can't blast people from a distance and he doesn't heal so good, I've smelt it a lot. Hope he's alive, Mystique'll have our skin otherwise and besides, kids good to have around, he's about the only person it's safe to lash out at when you're feeling frustrated._

_So, Toad down, heh? Dat doesn't sound good. Never seen Sabre' dis angry-lookin' an' I can't even take it out by teasing the Wolverine, huh, apparently he's off bounds now. An' why did we bring the sulky looking metal kid along anyways?_

_Shit someone's injured. Well, at least it's not one of ours. Although…none of them are one of ours. Which means I really shouldn't be here. Although, Scott wouldn't send anyone out for the brotherhood, even though one of us need to be here to make it right. So maybe its best we didn't wait._

Indio curled up into an even tighter ball, wishing he had a helmet like the Silent Man.

* * *

Dr McCoy woke up early. The remains of his conversation with Scott still circling around in his head. Noone was any closer to finding Dr Casey's murderers and, knowing who they were, Hank doubted they would ever be found.

Which left the whole thing as a loose-ended embarrassment. The scale of which had been worsened by Lewison's rather petty anti-mutant tirade. Not that people's hatred for mutants had noticeably increased, that was one thing to be thankful for, but it had just brought the whole issue to the forefront of government politics. Which, given its unsolvable nature, had not been the wisest of ideas.

On the plus side, it meant that Lewison's support from his fellow politicians had taken a noticeable drop.

Hank took a deep breath. He needed a walk, that was a good idea. Get away from the mansion for a bit, wake himself up, then face the whole tiring inevitability of the day. After all, it wouldn't last for ever, even the death would be forgotten under the barrage of new news. Casey would become another quietly-filed unsolved case and Lewison would become a small unsupported small-time politician.

Feeling a lot better, Hank stepped outside.

The first thing he saw was smoke rising from the burnt out forest.

The second thing he saw was Quicksilver, lying slumped unconscious on the doorstep of the mansion, one arm in a cast.

* * *

A/N: YAY, exams all over. Should have more time for writing :) Please reassure me that people are still reading this by leaving a short review. Even just a little smiley face in the review box would do. (And think of how awesome that will look when people press on the 'review' tag and see a little column of smiley faces!).

Of course if you want to leave a slightly longer review that would be greatly appreciated. All reviews will be answered, and I won't say nasty things to you, even if you leave a scathing review/flame. :D I don't bite. Honest.


	37. Awakenings and BreakIns

Disclaimer: see other chapters.

Awakenings and Break-Ins

"C'mon kid, wake up, you're the one with the fire-power."

Slowly and uncomfortably, for the third time in twelve hours, Pyro regained consciousness, "Whu-"

Toad gave a barely disguised sigh of relief, "About time kid, I was getting worried there. Listen-"

"What happened?" Pyro rubbed the side of his head as little flashing lights danced across his vision. His lighter was still gone, and they were sitting in what looked like a small stone cell. "You-you're alright?"

"We got taken captive in the forest." Toad explained, giving the boy a worried look. "I'm fine, takes more than some woman with a bloody great hammer to take me out. Are you alright, that's the question."

"Hammer." Pyro mumbled, wondering what the ringing sound in his ears was.

"You're white as a sheet."

Pyro nodded absentmindedly. His head was spinning and the noise in his ears was getting louder. There was a short internal struggle as his insides tried to be sick.

"Kid?"

With a small sigh, Pyro's eyes rolled into the back of his head and, once more, he passed out.

Toad looked at him in dismay and gave him a small shake. "Hell kid, wake up, I need you to get me out of here." Shooting a nervous glance at the small camera in the top left of the cell he bent down and hissed in Pyro's ear, "I've got a couple of matches on me, I'm not stupid. C'mon kid, wake up and lets get out."

Pyro didn't move.

* * *

Quicksilver woke up with a small shiver, which quickly turned into panic as he realised that he was in a strange unfamiliar place. The panic subsided a little when he realised he was in a bed, with clean fresh sheets and, best of all, the Juggernaut was not around. Was this prison? He wasn't even sure he cared.

There was a knock on the door "Pietro?"

Knocking did not seem to imply prison. He frowned, the voice seemed familiar. His brain, almost fully awake, tentatively suggested that he might be in hospital; the cast on his arm was clean and the large scratch on his leg where he'd been pushed into a tree had been bandaged up.

"Are you awake?" Asked the voice behind the door.

Pietro's eyes opened wide as he suddenly recognised who it was, "Father?"

The door swung open and Magneto shuffled in. He looked old, older than Pietro had ever seen him. His eyes, which had once shone brightly, were now dull and empty.

"Where am I?" Quicksilver asked desperately, "Where's…Juggernaut."

"You are in the X-mansion." Magneto gave a small smile, "You were, uh, left on the doorstep."

Quicksilver sank back onto the pillows, "Thank God, he's gone."

Magneto frowned, "Who."

Quicksilver took a deep breath, wondering if there was anyway to explain the last few days without coming across as a coward. "Your pet mercenary."

"Who broke your arm?" Magneto asked sharply.

"Who do you think?" Quicksilver shot back, almost managing a sneer.

Magneto stood up abruptly. Automatically Pietro cringed back, but Magneto simply strode out of the room leaving him alone with a large number of confused and conflicting thoughts.

* * *

The door crashed back on its hinges. Toad jumped away from Pyro's collapsed body and flattened himself against the wall.

"Morning mutie."

Desperately, Toad leapt towards the open doorway, his feet kicking out wildly. _Sorry for leaving you fireboy, but self-preservation first y'know."_ The short skinny man behind the door ducked, cursing and almost swallowing his cigarette. Toad swerved around him, swinging on the top of the doorframe and using the momentum to carry him round into the corridor where-

_Thud_

His flying parabola was cut short by the hefty handle of a large hammer. Dazed, he fell to the ground, looking up, and then further up as he realised it was _her_. Six foot three in flat shoes, built like a tank and carrying a long handled custom-made hammer.

Toad spat at her face, scrabbling desperately backwards down the corridor and trying to remember if there was a dead end behind him. The woman laughed, snatching the green goo out of the air, "How does it feel to be crawling, mutant?"

"Same as always." Toad muttered, looking desperately for an escape that did not exist.

The man behind him picked himself up, took a last drag of his cigarette and stubbed it out on the side of Toad's neck. Toad gave a yelp of pain that turned into a protesting cry as the woman picked him clean off the floor, pinning his arms to his sides.

"You shouldn't be smoking those things." She snapped at the man, slamming the cell door shut, "What if the fire-shooter wakes up?"

The man shrugged, giving Toad a dirty look, "Alright Jaycee, lets get this one off."

* * *

"This is it?" Colossus stared at the tidy-looking detached house, his feet crunching on the gravel. "This is where the scent leads?"

Sabretooth looked pointedly at Wolverine, who gave an uneasy shrug, "Looks like it, the trail ends here."

Colossus frowned slightly but said nothing. Wolverine felt slightly relieved, he might be young but at least he wasn't one of the whiny kids he remembered from his days as a substitute teacher at the mansion.

"So what do we do?" Gambit asked, leaning idly against the side of the house.

Logan realised everyone was looking at him, "Knock I guess."

"Ring the bell." Sabretooth suggested.

There was a short pause where they all waited for someone else to move, then Colossus stepped forward and awkwardly knocked on the door.

Indio shivered slightly. Everyone was nervous and tense, the thoughts he could hear were worried and confused, except for Gambit who was thinking _Dis is gonna be interestin' when the door opens. Bonjour ma'am, three mercenaries, a tin man an' a small Latino here to see youse._

"Try again." Sabretooth suggested after a short moment of no response. This time Colossus tried the doorbell, which played a short merry little tune that reassured no one.

It did produce a response though. After a few minutes of shuffling and the odd muffled sound of doors slamming a short skinny man appeared at the door, pulling heavily on a cigarette.

"What do you want?"

Indio gave a small whimper and hid behind Logan.

"We're looking for some people." Colossus said formally, hiding behind the deadpan expression he'd had so many years to practise.

The man shrugged, "Can't help you son, no one lives here except me and my daughter."

Sabretooth's nostrils flared. The man stunk of Toad. Wolverine glanced at him and gave him a quick nod; anything that made Indio frightened was enough in his book.

The man flashed them a nervous grin and slammed the door. It bounced off Gambit's steel-toed boots and he gave the man an easy smile.

"Don' want trouble, home, we jus' want a look aroun'."

"Hey…you can't…" The man spluttered as Colossus moved forward relentlessly pushing him back through the door _Pretend it's just another job for Serge, switch off, go back, like you did when Stryker attacked. Logan will intervene if I'm doing anything wrong, except right now he has his killkillnomercy look on._

Logan strode past him, grabbed the man around the neck and pushed him up against the wall, feeling inwardly relieved that the man was half a head shorter than him, "Alright bub, where is he."

"What! Who?" The mans eyes darted nervously between Wolverine and Sabretooth who was standing behind him snarling.

"Toad." Wolverine pressed tighter, preventing the man from struggling, "Scrawny guy, English, kinda green. Can't miss him."

Colossus was staring determinedly at the ceiling. Indio was watching wide-eyed from behind a lampstand.

"Hey!" Gambit called from somewhere in the house. "Dis is one nice TV."

"You have no right…" The man began.

"Toad is in this house." Wolverine snarled. "I'm guessing you've noticed he's a mutant. I don't know if you've realised that we are as well, we've got a kid with us who can read minds so don't try to pull any crap."

The man gave a high pitched scream as Wolverine's claws slid out on either side of his neck.

"I'm warning you, bub, one lie and these are going straight through you."

Hurridly, desperately, Indio darted forward and pulled urgently on Wolverine's shirt, "Please don't hurt him, I know were Toad is."

Colossus couldn't suppress a small smile. Wolverine looked down at him, confused, then shrugged, "You sure."

"Uh." Indio looked at the man, clearly terrified by the thoughts he was hearing.

"Don't worry about him kid."

"Yes." Indio whispered, slightly shamefaced, "I know where they are but…" His eyes widened in shock, "We have to hurry, they're going to move them, in a helicopter. They're taking the, uh, the Toad.

"Right." Wolverine glanced at Colossus, "Iron man, you stay with this guy, make sure he doesn't escape. Sabretooth, you grab the Cajun, I'll find out where they are, Indio…" He really wanted to leave the boy with Colossus in relative safety, but he certainly didn't want him to be subjected to a tirade of possible mental death threats from the captive. "You come with us, but keep out of danger, alright?"

Indio nodded, wondering why anyone, apart from possibly Logan, would ever want to go _into_ danger.

* * *

A/N: heh, so it turns out that the end of term does not mean 'things stop happening.' On the contrary it means 'more things happen, but not so many of them are work.' I've have been so stupidly busy over the last few days.

I had a record number of reviews for the last chapter! Woohoo, felt so proud and appreciated :D _oh-so-subtle-hint_


	38. Of Anger and Arguements

Disclaimer: see other chapters.

Of Anger and Arguement

"Door behind the cupboard." Indio said nervously. "Then steps down and then there are…cells."

Gambit raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"

Indio remembered the confused thoughts he'd heard a few minutes ago, _Ah hell what if they find the door behind the utilities cupboard? That'll lead them straight down to the cells, good job we got the green mutie, hope Jaycee gets him into the 'copter on time…_

"Yes. I'm sure." He said.

"Course he's sure." Wolverine shot back.

"Fine, fine. You gonna be OK coming wit' us Logan? Won' start crying?"

"Shut it LeBeau." Sabretooth growled. _You weren't part of Weapon X, you're just an uppity thief from the swamp. You weren't there._

Indio bit his lip, worried about being the source of potential problems. "I think that's the cupboard he meant."

The door behind it was locked. This was not a problem. Sabretooth lead the way down the stairs, crushing the remains of the door beneath him while a rather sulky Gambit took the rear, pulling a few cards out as a safety precaution.

The steps led to a thin, well-lit corridor. Two doors led off from it before it turned a rather abrupt corner. Cautiously, Sabretooth inched his way towards the turning, unwilling to end up silhouetted against the light background.

"Hear anything?" Logan whispered to Indio, who shook his head.

"Alright. You stay here." Wolverine moved forward to stand behind Sabretooth, "No one here, might as well go for it."

"Wait." Indio swallowed fearfully, "There's someone coming."

The distant thought was getting louder in his head: _Right, there's one off, taught him not to put up a fight, just got to get the fireshooter now. He shouldn't be a problem; Kain took him out pretty hard. Hope he wakes up again though, no point trying to find out any answers from a corpse._

Indio backed away until he hit Gambit's trench coat.

"How many people?" Wolverine asked.

"Just one."

Wolverine glanced at Sabretooth and raised an eyebrow. Sabretooth nodded, grinned, and they both charged around the corridor.

_Weapon X all over again_

_Let's go get 'em!_

_Get the slimy one and the fireshooter back to base, then we can start…holy SHIT!_

_Uh – where am I?_

Indio jumped as a new thought entered his consciousness. Turning around quickly, he grabbed Gambit's jacket and shouted over the sound of Wolverine being hit in the chest with a hammer, "There's someone in there!"

"Woah, whats dis?"

"In that cell, someone's in there. The other one, not Toad." Indio faltered slightly, realising that he was holding a much larger and shocked looking man by the front of his jacket, "Um, can't you get him out?"

"What, now everyone give Gambit orders?" He grumbled, but obeyed, flicking a card at the lock and blasting a small hole in the door.

Pyro looked up, blinking in the afterlight of the explosion, "Wha-"

"Hey." Gambit strode into the cell and knelt down beside him, "You alright Pyro?"

"St John." Pyro mumbled, staring slightly manically at the damaged door.

"What?" Gambit shot a quizzical glance at Indio who shrugged, then gulped as Wolverine smashed into the wall behind him.

"My head hurts." Continued Pyro, his breath starting to hitch, "Hurts."

"Shh." Slightly pissed off that he was missing the fight Gambit gave him a quick one-armed hug. "Dere you go kid, c'n you stan' up?"

St John gave a small gasping choking sound, buried his head in the front of Gambits coat and started to cry.

* * *

"This is illegal you know." Kain spat. "Breaking and entering. Damage to property. Grievous bodily harm. Did you muties just forget that cops exist?"

Colossus gave a small weary sigh, "You have not been harmed. Threatening someone then tying them to a table does not count as harm."

"It's still illegal."

"So is kidnap."

"You've no proof of anything."

Colossus shrugged. He'd guarded captives before, although that seemed a very long time ago now. Before he'd moved to America, when he'd worked for Serge and tried to pretend he didn't know what it was Serge actually did, and why sometimes the men he'd guarded were taken away and never returned.

Instead, he'd turned a blind eye and collected the money at the end. It was wrong, he knew that now, but with three younger sisters and only a farmers paycheque it hadn't seemed quite so wrong.

The man was still talking. Colossus ignored him. Right and wrong were more…fluid when you were starving. Besides, it could easily be argued that letting a family that depended on you starve to death, just because you were too scared or too noble to break your own moral code, was the height of selfishness. They had _depended _on him…

He'd spent a long time convincing himself that that made sense.

Kain's words washed over him, blocked out by his mind, but there was another sound too; playing in the background but getting louder by the second.

"What's that?"

"What?" Kain asked, pausing in the middle of his monologue.

"It sounds like a…chopper blade."

Kain shrugged, inwardly smirking. _Heh, nice one Jaycee. That's one of them off at any rate._ "I don't suppose I'm allowed a cigarette."

Quickly Colossus strode over to the door. The sound was a lot louder now; about ten metres away a helicopter was rising up from a hole in the ground.

Colossus stared, gaping, before his senses finally took hold. Dashing back into the house he sprinted over to the hole behind the cupboard, taking the stairs two at a time. He turned into metal on the way, from the noise below some sort of fight appeared to be going on.

* * *

There were two of them, but in the narrowest part of the corridor it didn't matter. Jaycee swung the hammer again and again taking them out alternatively and grunting with the effort. They might heal, but she could keep this up forever.

The problem was that the corridor was getting wider; they were beating her back towards the hanger. Every step she took made it more probable that soon they would both be able to fit in the widening gap on either side of her. And she wasn't sure she could take on both at once.

She smashed out with the hammer, catching the shorter one on the chest and smiling in relieved satisfaction as he flew backwards to hit the wall. It was a small victory though, he wouldn't take long to recover and then he'd be back.

Why wouldn't they just _stop_?

Sabretooth slashed his fist downwards, catching her on the side of the head and gouging a chunk out of her cheek. She brought the hammer crashing down on his hands, (from the sound at least one wrist had broken) and then desperately lunged forwards, trying to regain the advantage of the narrower corridor.

"Professor Logan!"

Suddenly there was a third person, skidding around the corridor and colliding with the other two. Sabretooth fell back, dodging away from the hammer as he did so. Wolverine, still recovering, was knocked to the floor and then this new mutant was standing in front of her. His skin looked slightly…odd…

Mutants. Well, skin colour was no boundary. Black, white, green, even whatever kind of grey this one was, she would kill them all. Regardless.

She swung the hammer with all her strength. He caught it in his hands, looking confused.

It was then that she realised that his skin wasn't just a funny colour.

Unfortunately, she was several seconds too late.

The strange metallic mutant frowned, then, lifting his hands, he swung the hammer back towards her face. It caught her on the side of the temple and she fell, trying desperately to get out of its way and hissing in pain as it smashed down to crush her arm against the stone floor.

The metal man stared at her impassively. Jaycee suddenly felt very scared. Shoving the hammer off her arm she ran, faster than she'd ever run before, her right arm flapping uselessly at her side.

* * *

Luis stared out of the window as the helicopter moved upwards, more than a little relieved that he'd been chosen to be inside it. By the looks of it there were quite a few mutants inside the house now, Kain would be furious, and Luis didn't feel he was equipped to deal with mutants. At least, he shot a worried glance at Toad, any mutants not currently tied up and bleeding.

Jaycee would be in there as well. And Jaycee scared him more than every mutant on the planet. If it wasn't for her, he would have left the Friends of Humanity long ago, he'd seen what they did to mutants, hell he'd just seen what Jaycee had done to this one. He'd felt _ill_ watching it writhing around on the floor, begging, screaming.

From his vantage point on the floor, Toad carefully peaked out the bottom of one eye, slightly concerned at how easy this seemed. The crazy woman with the hammer had looked _tough_, certainly not the sort of person he'd expected would be taken in by the screaming act. It was a trick he'd tried a few times (even on Gambit once, although that hadn't worked and he still had the scars), roll around screaming on the floor in the hope that nobody will notice that you haven't actually been harmed yet.

She'd enjoyed it. That had scared him. She'd laughed as he'd screamed loud enough to wake the dead, and even tried a few tears for verisimilitude. All she'd been interested in was watching him suffer.

So where did that leave him now? Alone in a helicopter, with a faintly worried looking young man with no weapons, and a few superficial bruises.

And a broken wrist, admittedly. And not all of the bruising was _that_ superficial because the crazy hammer woman had certainly been strong, and he could hardly get away with howling in agony before she'd even touched him.

Mortimer Toynbee had escaped from far worse situations than that.

The ropes were too tightly tied to break free from, certainly not quickly anyway. But the thing that people always forgot was, that if both legs carry the projectile force of a strong tightly-coiled spring, it hardly _matters_ if they happen to be tied together.

He waited until the young man guarding him was gazing out the window then swung his legs out, pivoting with his body. They struck the man full in the chest, he gave a small winded gasp and then lay still.

Desperately, Toad struggled to get his hands free. The man looked as if he wouldn't be moving for a while, he might even be dead, but guard or no guard if he arrived at his destination still tied up his situation was not going to improve.

The pilot flew on, unaware.

* * *

"Why did you do it?" Quicksilver asked. He had been let out of the infirmary once it had been discovered that nothing was technically wrong with him except his arm, and was now sitting on a bench in the garden next to Magneto.

"Hmm?" Magneto looked up. "Do what?"

"Move the bridge, fight, anything really. Why did you rescue Juggernaut?"

Magneto shrugged, staring out at the forest, "They locked him up."

"For being a criminal. Not for being a mutant."

Magneto gave a weary sigh, "It was a war, Pietro. It…seemed to make sense at the time."

"Why was it a war?"

Magneto smiled. This one he knew, "Because people always resort to violence, especially when they feel scared or threatened. I did have this talk with Charles, you know."

"You and Xavier had everything sorted out didn't you?" Pietro commented bitterly.

His father frowned, "What do you mean."

"I mean that both of you were always sure you were right. You talked everything out between you, forced it through whatever moral filter you'd decided to use, and decided it was right. You ended up with criminals and Xavier ended up with a jet under a school. Under a _school_."

Less than a year ago, Quicksilver's words would have caused Magneto to rise up in defence. Now he just gave a weary shrug. "We were young, it was hard. There were always things to fight against; oppression, bigotry, it seemed like the right thing to do."

"Why did you have to fight? Xavier could read minds!"

"We both agreed that it was unethical." It had been Xavier's idea, use of such a deadly mutation would be unfair.

"But it's perfectly ethical to use Summers and the Wolverine to slice people in half." Quicksilver shot back.

Magneto raised an eyebrow, "You know Xavier did not condone fighting."

"For a pacifist he certainly generated enough of it." Quicksilver replied sulkily, uncertain whether he was getting the best of the conversation. "And you certainly didn't mind it."

"I fight fire with fire." Magneto said. It seemed the only thing to say. There was no way to explain to this angry young thing full of certainties that both he and Xavier had once been the same. So sure that the world was wrong, so sure that there was a simple way to fix it, and that they would manage it.

"Yeah?" Quicksilver sneered, thinking of Pyro. "Does it help?"

* * *

A/N: May be more errors than usual as I'm back on library internet and they've imposed a time limit on internet time. 30 sodding minutes is not enough for me to do everything I want to do. Plz point ouit any errors, thanks, i'll try to get them fixed.

I _like _Kain. He's the first character that I've created for a while that I've actually enjoyed writing. In case anyone was wondering, he looks like a slightly taller and a lot more presentable form of Nobby Nobbs. (Discworld)

And if he wasn't currently organising hostages for the FoH, he'd be one of those part time builders that charges the earth, gives non-comprehensible explanations of why nothing is being done and is, miraculously, _always_ on a coffee break. :)


	39. Love and other Four Lettered Words

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel except Indio, Kain and Jaycee, who I am happy to put in the public domain so go ahead and use them if you want

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel except Indio, Kain and Jaycee, who I am happy to put in the public domain so go ahead and use them if you want. Title is from an old British TV series about construction-site workers, Kudos to anyone who knows which one…

Love and other Four Lettered Words

"Rogue?" Carefully, Warren tiptoed into the room. "I, uh, just saw Bobby down in the gym. He looked pretty upset, have, have you two been fighting or something?"

Rogue gave a deep breath and looked up. "No. I just broke up with him."

It took quite a lot of effort for her to remain calm, as a worried and shocked expression clouded over his face, "Oh-no, Rogue. Why?"

She clenched her teeth together firmly. She was not going to cry. "I just didn't feel we were…going anywhere."

"It was him wasn't it? That…Gambit."

"Angel what I do with my life is none of your business!" She took another deep calming breath. It wasn't so much the break-up that annoyed her, it was everyone's reaction too it. If she had to deal with one more person determined to see it as a bad mistake…

Warren backed away slightly, the corner of his wings bumping against her mirror, "I just wondered…are you sure?"

"Yes." She barely had to think. Gambit was so…right. So normal, so natural. With Bobby it felt like she was always pretending, always trying to fit herself into something that would work. With Gambit she was just herself, more real than she ever had been.

"But…why?" The worry was gone, replaced by confusion. "He's one of them?"

"Them!" She flared up, "Why is it always them. Them and Us, Us and Them. Is that what the Professor wanted? Dividing the world into us and them? I love Gambit. He loves me, there is no Them,"

"I didn't know the Professor." He said, faintly embarrassed.

"You've seen how it is though. It's always a fight, always a struggle, always division. Well, with Gambit I don't have to fight. Warren…"

"What?"

She wanted to tell someone, she had to tell someone, she'd been bursting with the secret for ages in her head, "I might be leaving here."

"Leaving the school?"

"Yeah. If I can. With Gambit."

"But…why?" He repeated.

"Well, it was nice. I mean it was great when I first came here, I needed somewhere I could just be, somewhere safe, somewhere with friends. But now…it's just another wall. I guess I feel I have to hit the world at some point."

He smiled, "Well, I hope it works out for you. I think I need a bit more time."

She gave him a curious look, "Why did you come up here anyway? I mean, no offence, but I hardly know you."

He looked faintly awkward, "I guess I just don't like to see Bobby upset."

"Bobby huh?"

He blushed. Nine years locked in his father's mansion had not taught Warren Worthington the subtleties of human emotional interactions. "I…care about him. A lot."

Rogue started to grin.

He looked up, and it was a look Rogue had seen before, most often in the mirror. Desperate, empty and, more than anything, lonely. "I know Bobby was going out with you, and he…likes Kitty so I guess he's not, well, but…but…do you think I could ask…?" His confused monologue petered out uncertainly.

Rogue shrugged, then thought about Bobby and gave a small smile. "Well, I guess you never know until you ask."

* * *

Scott slammed the phone down and took a deep breath. Behind him, Hank gave a small chuckle. "So…no help there then?"

"Worse."

"Worse than no help?"

Scott sighed, "They say that they can't help us find any captured mutants until we hand Quicksilver over."

Hank frowned, "Why?"

"Well, technically he's involved in a murder. Professor Casey, remember? They say they can't help us if we're harbouring a murderer."

"Well." Hank said, "I guess it's all down to Logan."

"Is it?"

No for the first time, Hank wished he could see Scott's proper expression behind the visor glasses, "What do you mean."

"Quicksilver is a murderer. We are obliged by law to hand him over."

"Do you think they'll help us even then?" Hank asked shrewdly.

Scott's voice had gone colder, more official, "Surely that is immaterial."

"Scott?"

"He's a murderer Hank. Or somehow involved. He's as much to blame as the people who kidnapped, uh, whoever got kidnapped. If we don't hand him over we're fighting against the police, harbouring a criminal. What do you think the Professor would have done?"

Hank frowned again, worried. What Scott said made sense, of course, it just somehow felt…wrong. "Well, maybe we should check with Logan."

"Is it so hard to guess what he'll say? Besides, we have no means of contacting him."

Hank ignored the first question. "Colossus left wearing his X-costume. It has a communications device on it. We can get in contact with them if we have too."

"You'd trust the opinions of a mercenary?"

Hank's expression didn't change, "The Professor did."

* * *

It was the oddest kind of questioning Gambit had ever seen. Wolverine stood in front of Kain, asking the questions and the small Latino kid provided the answers. Kain growled and spat and threatened, but there wasn't very much he could do about it. Thoughts have a habit of slipping into the front of the mind, especially when you're trying to suppress them.

Gambit was starting to get edgy around Sabretooth as well, he'd never trusted him exactly, but suddenly he seemed to have more sympathy for the Wolverine. Ever since the guy had started crying. And Pyro was acting weirdly as well. No one was behaving normally any more, and it put him on edge.

_Ah well_ he thought_, not much longer, heh? Jus' get Toad out den I'm back off, an' all the tears in de worl' won' stop me. All dats lef' for Gambit is his girl back at de X-mansion. Pick her up den hit the road._

A small soppy smile appeared on his face. Thankfully, only Colossus noticed, and he didn't say anything.

"Okay." Said Wolverine turning around. Quickly, Gambit returned to the real world. "Toad's in the helicopter, the helicopter is headed cross country. No distance we can't manage in a car, although we'll arrive later than it because we're stuck to the roads. The helicopter is headed to the Friends of Humanity base-camp-centre-thing so wherever they take Toad, they're keeping him there. Pyro is…safe." He stared for a moment at St John, who was sitting by the car, huddled in a blanket and shaking slightly. "So just get Toad out and then…shit…"

It was happening again, he was getting used to noticing it. Thankfully he was already leaning against the car as…

_Mud. There was mud in his boots and mud all over his clothes and in his hair. Mud and blood. He was facing another guy, snarling at him across the few inches of dirt that separated them, both determined to rip each other to pieces._

"_Hey look, guys, they're fighting again!"_

_He'd fought the man before. Many, many times. Something about a theft and an accusation... The man jumped and suddenly they're at each others throats, biting, tearing, hitting, it isn't about survival, not for him, it's about winning. Two men, and suddenly he realises that they're both wearing army gear, both with regulation equipment…_

_A shadow falls across them, "Simmet! Creed!"_

_They stop fighting, although he manages a last wild swing as they separate. Someone official has arrived. The man stares at them, and then smiles and shakes his head. _

"_I hear you boys are always fighting."_

_There's no answer to that. They both stare at each other, hatred glaring out of them._

"_You seem quite healthy, considering." The man looks at the oddly, "You've been clawing each other to pieces for a good half hour and not a scratch on you."_

_They both look briefly at each other and then turn away, staring straight ahead, just like they've been taught. That's what you do when you're in trouble in the army; stare straight ahead._

"_Well anyway. My name is William Stryker and I reckon I might have a job for you boys."_

"Oookay." Said Gambit after a short pause. "Well…we get in the car den?"

Sabretooth grunted and then nodded as Wolverine gasped, shook his head and rejoined reality.

"Are you alright?" Indio whispered too him nervously.

"Yeah…"

"It's just, when you go weird like that I can't hear any thoughts coming from you."

"Well I'm thinking plenty kid. Sabretooth?"

Victor Creed turned round, "What?"

"Can I have a talk? Not now, some time. About…memories."

* * *

A/N: I meant what I said in the disclaimer btw. Anyone who has a sudden urge to put a six foot four hammer swinging maniac into a story feel free to use Jaycee. And ditto for any other of my characters you see floating around. Although it would be awesome if you sent me a little message saying you're doing it, mostly because it means I'll come along and review it…

Next chapter will be longer. Promise :)


	40. Simmet

Disclaimer: See other chapters

To **Marie**: You always write such wonderful and helpful reviews and leave no contact so I can never reply and say thank you! In answer to one of your questions though, Rogue didn't fall in love quite so quick as it seems. Her and Gambit got quite a bit of time together when they were both at the X-mansion I just didn't cover it because meh, romance. :)

Simmet

"Yeah." Sabretooth growled softly. "Simmet. That was it. James Simmet."

"James." Logan swallowed nervously, feeling somehow small and vulnerable. "My name is James?"

Sabretooth shrugged, speeding the car along the verge to avoid a slow moving tanker, "It was."

"There was…a deal. With Stryker."

"The Deal." Sabretooth nodded, then sighed. "We got to be part of Weapon X, they took our memories out. I wanted to keep the memories of my army days; I'd had some good times before you came along. You just said to take out everything."

"Everything?"

"Yep. Everything. You wanted to start life again or something. We did training first, before they did the operation. Lots of stuff, some of it was just hitting stuff, some was, I dunno, medical tests or something. To see if we were fit enough for what they were about to do. They did me first, I didn't have as much that needed changing. You were the big one, you were the Weapon."

Wolverine stared at the window, as the world flashed by outside. "Then what happened?"

"I dunno. All I heard was that you'd broken out. That made me think: if a short little prick like you could do it, what the hell was I doing being the government's toy."

"What was I like in the army?" Wolverine asked, curiously.

Sabretooth gave a short bark of laughter, "You got your ass handed too you, right on the first day. A short Okie kid who hadn't even made it to California? No chance. They stole half your stuff and hung you out to dry."

"What did I do then?" He felt genuinely interested.

"You kept trying to get them back. There were ten of them, well, seven at least, you took so much crap I think some of the guys started feeling sorry for you." Sabretooth took a deep breath, frowning back down the years and unaccustomed to talking so much. "One day you walked into the wrong hut though. Mine. Ripped half my stuff apart, chucked water all over the rest and stole all the money under my mattress."

Logan frowned. He…could sort of remember it. The images were there, lurking, somewhere. Climbing in through a window (so nervous) and wrecking havoc on what had turned out to be the wrong person.

"I'd hardly noticed you before." Sabretooth continued, "You were just some other small time kid who couldn't hack it. But after that, well, you were mine. I split your head open the first night, so you sneaked back in the next day and tore open everything you hadn't managed to damage before."

It had been a twisted kind of honour. Wolverine remembered. And the feeling that if the whole world was going to treat you like shite then you might as well do something to deserve it.

"The other guys left you alone a bit after that. You were kind of mine to beat the hell out of whenever I wanted. But you just didn't leave it. You didn't break. You kept fighting, and you fought with _anybody_. You mostly lost, but you just kept going. Most of the guys who didn't think you were mad reckoned you had rabies or something."

Stryker had said it, hadn't he: _You were always an animal, I just gave you claws._

"You got better at fighting eventually, I guess it would have been hard not too. You stopped being a punch-bag and started being an opponent. A dangerous one. I guess someone noticed eventually that you were, well we both were, taking far too much punishment to still be walking. They told Stryker, and you know the rest."

Wolverine nodded. There was a short moment of silence, broken viciously by a loud alarm-like noise that made everyone in the car jump (including Gambit, who'd been sulking in the back.).

"Sorry." Colossus said shortly, pulling the phone off his X-costume and clicking the side, "Uh…hello?"

Indio looked up, frowning, and just in time prevented himself from asking why Scott was calling.

"Yeah." Colossus continued, "He's here, uh, Logan?" he covered the receiver with his hand, "It's Professor Summers. He wants to speak to you."

Confused, still half in another world, Logan took the small phone, glancing sideways at Sabretooth as he did so. "Scott? What is it?"

Scott's voice sounded faintly tinny on the end of the phone, "Logan, we need you back here now."

"Why?"

"We're going to hand in Quicksilver and leave this all to the police. We need you and everyone else out of there."

"Why?" Logan asked again. Indio cringed back slightly at the sudden rush of anger in Logan's thoughts and Gambit, who was learning to read Indio's expressions quite well, bit his lip, worried. A breakdown in good feeling between them and the X mansion might make Rogue's plans to leave a little difficult.

_Ah well._ He thought, resigned. _Maybe Gambit could stay on as a teacher or somet'ing? Heh. Dat would be fun._

A week ago, maybe even a day ago, Wolverine knew he would have crushed the phone right then. Scott's voice on the end of the phone was talking, there were lots of words, all of them were terrifying and none of them made sense. Scott was talking of trusting the police, of turning people over, of, well, of giving in.

"After all." Scott's voice continued, seeming so detached from the reality of what they were doing, "We have a duty to become part of society. How can we expect non-mutants to accept us when we continually act different?"

"We are different." Wolverine muttered.

"What?"

"We are different Summers, whose side are you on?" His voice rose higher. Sabretooth grinned. "What the hell do you mean the Professor didn't want sides? He built a school didn't he? A separate school. A mutant school. A different school. And he put a damn _jet_ underneath, and trained you and Storm and, and all the rest to be fighters."

Scott tried to intervene but was cut off, "There are mutants here Scott, and they're in trouble. Toad's in trouble. We're gonna sort that out while you sit in the X-mansion chatting up policemen."

"But…" The commanding tone had changed to one of complete bafflement. "Logan, Toad is one of them."

Wolverine practically snarled into the phone, "Toad is one of us!"

* * *

Inside the helicopter, things were going slightly better. Toad had managed to get both hands free, and the pilot was still flying on, oblivious. The knots around his legs were proving harder, and his hands were already slippy with sweat.

The more he thought about it, the worse his predicament seemed. He was in a helicopter, on his own, flying towards an unknown destination as a captive of a well known anti-mutant terrorist group. Pyro was down and as far as he knew there was no one coming to rescue him.

So what did that leave him with? One pilot, one helicopter, two lengths of rope and six matches.

Not much help. He had no experience of flying helicopters, and the pilot sure as hell wasn't going to listen to reason, probably not even to threats. He was flying on to his destination, any plans would have to start from when he arrived, in a hostile environment to people who hated him and, more importantly, would be carrying guns.

He began to tear slightly more frantically at the bindings on his legs.

* * *

A/N: Yes, A short chapter, but such is life, and I wanted to get _something_ up.

And now…I have an announcement. And a confession. Sorry to all you guys, but I've decided to wrap up this story. A couple more chapters and then Playing With Fire will be no more. For those that are interested here are the reasons:

1-This is a big story. I mean..._big._ It was meant to stop after chapter eight, but instead just escalated. Crazily. And my reasoning is that noone is going to start reading a long story like this, so basically it's only going to either keep all the readers it has or loose readers.

2-I am going to be quite busy this term. Very busy in fact. And keeping a long chaptered story (that is quite frankly starting to wind itself out) will be hard. Long gaps between chapters which, again, looses readers.

3-This story is barely about St John any more. It's still about playing with fire but the focus is going. I have lots of other characters I want to focus on, and I can't do it within the scope of this story. If I stop this one, I can write more new ones.

4-I have an awesome ending planned :D


	41. Wall of Water

Disclaimer: See other chapters

Wall of Water

It was a cheap trick, hiding behind the door, but Toad was not beneath cheap tricks. It brought time and, more importantly, close space. Guns are ideal for long range, but not so ideal if you bend down to step into a helicopter in search of a mutant who (as it turns out) is hiding behind the door holding a burning length of rope.

He knew how to fight with ropes. In a back ally in the middle of nowhere sometimes rope was all you had. Knotted at both ends almost made a flail, and if rope wasn't as hard as iron, it was lethal enough for most purposes, especially if it was on fire.

Another thing about the fire that didn't strike him until later was that it produces a lot of smoke, especially when bits of the helicopter started smouldering. And smoke has many useful properties.

For a start, it's a signal.

* * *

One of us.

Wolverine's last words before throwing the phone out of the front window seemed to echo around the car. In Indio's head the words did echo, in every thought, in every mind.

For Colossus, it was an act of rebellion which, somehow, didn't seem as bad anymore. _So I guess this is against what Scott wants. So it's wrong. But Wolverine thinks its right. Although he's a mercenary. But…so was I, back in Russia working for Serge. Toad isn't one of us, but he is a mutant. Maybe we have to look out for mutants. Maybe now Magneto isn't so…political and the Professor is dead. It's probably wrong. But it doesn't feel wrong._

Sabretooth was grinning wildly _This is it. Back to Weapon X. Hell with me and Logan there's nothing we can't beat. We were made as weapons, although, although, maybe might be good to settle down a bit. After we drag Toad out, stupid kid. Simmet, god that seems like a long time ago. Poor little Simmet, always so crazy and angry._

Despite his earlier anger, Wolverine was more reflective than Indio would have expected. _Probably should hand Quicksilver over. But this isn't about him, this is about the FoH. Never knew I was in the army, fighting against Sabretooth, I must have been insane. Rescuing Toad, but we can't keep rescuing. Summers might sound insane but hell he's right. It can't always be us dealing with this stuff, that's what the police are there for._

It was Gambit's thoughts he found the most surprising. The Cajun was hardly thinking about the upcoming fight at all: _I've got enou' for a house. If I sell dat dump Magneto used to crash in. Jus' a little flat to start wit, I can make enou' wit card gaming to keep us. Somewhere back in de Bayou, somewhere nice. Somewhere she'll want to stay._

Pyro was hardly thinking at all. Indio inched slightly away from the boy, whose head was carrying on a half-mumbled litany: _I want to go home, I want to go home, what was I thinking of getting into this, I want to go back, anywhere, somewhere safe. I don't want to fight any more, I want to go home._

"Are we almost there?" Colossus asked, giving a small smile for the first time since the trip had started.

Sabretooth nodded, then frowned, the sniffed at the air. "Can you smell…"

"Burning." Wolverine finished.

"Somet'ing on fire?" Gambit asked, snapping out of his daydream world.

Sabretooth upped the speed. With a slight screeching of complaining rubber the car swung round a corner, bumped over a bridge, bounced off a few trees and almost crashed into the side of a semi-smouldering helicopter.

* * *

Scott sighed and put the phone down. Hank looked up enquiringly, "Well?"

"What do you think?"

Hank smiled then gave a weary shrug. "We should hand him over. I'm sure even the Professor would agree. I'm just not sure Magneto will. And it's clear that Wolverine is not going to be recalled. Did you, ah, did you tell Wolverine you'd already sent the police over?"

"We've killed." Scott said, in a vaguely far-away voice.

"Hmm?"

"In Stryker's … place. There were soldiers there. Did they get out?"

Hank shrugged again. He hadn't played much part at all in anything concerning Stryker, and didn't really feel able to comment.

"Should we hand ourselves over? The Professor once intimidated the President. Nightcrawler tried to assassinate the President. Wolverine has killed, I've killed, both Pyro and Bobby have caused grievous bodily harm. Colossus is a sort of ex-mafia."

"Really?" Hank had not read through all the student files.

"Apparently. Magneto is responsible for the murder of many, many people. So…" he swallowed, "So was Jean, indirectly."

"Well, _indirectly –_" Hank began, but was cut off.

"We have a jet under the school Hank. We keep children in a place that isn't even safe any more. And part of us hopes, or expects, that they'll grow up to fight. Look at Warren! He looks terrified at the mere prospect of battle, has no fighting skills at all and we've made an X-men costume for him, we've even…"

"Scott…"

"It just doesn't seem right. I don't know Hank, it's getting hard to tell what's right any more."

Dr McCoy gentle patted him on the shoulder. "The FoH kidnapping mutants is not right. You phoning the police about it was right."

"And Wolverine?"

"Wolverine's actions have nothing to do with you. I very much doubt he would follow much of your advice, let alone your orders."

"But is what he's doing right? Should I be there with him?" Scott gave a sigh. "No. I probably shouldn't. I should look after the school."

Hank smiled. He wondered whether to tell Scott that he'd once heard the Professor say a very similar thing.

Scott was talking about Wolverine. The Professor had been talking about Magneto.

* * *

They made short work of the five people around the helicopter, while Indio and Pyro stayed crouched in the car. Sabretooth dragged Toad out, coughing slightly in the smoke.

"You alright?"

Toad nodded, wiping soot off his face, "Woah, you came looking for me?"

"'Course." Sabretooth grunted. "Now what the hell's going on?"

Toad pointed to a small door, half hidden by the rise of a hill. "They came from in there. Don't know what's down there, but it's probably not going to be pretty."

There was a short silence as they looked at Indio and Pyro crouching in the car. Wolverine looked at Sabretooth.

"I'll stay." Gambit volunteered.

"Maybe Toad?" Wolverine suggested, not wanting to loose such a valuable source of fire-power.

"What use am I going to be if five guys with guns run out?" Toad sneered. "Uh, Remy? If you're staying here though, can I have the staff?"

Gambit raised an eyebrow. Toad backed away slightly, "Okay, okay. Just asking."

"Right then." Wolverine nodded, "Let's go."

The door was faintly foreboding but, thankfully, had been left unlocked. The corridor beneath was well lit and seemed, surprisingly, to be un-guarded. Toad guessed that all the guards had coming running out to deal with the smoking helicopter.

As they ventured further down, they noticed doors lining the sides of the corridor. Each door was marked with a letter and a number. Toad spotted them first, nudging Logan in the ribs and pointing, "Hey…Wolverine."

"What? Oh…"

Colossus reached forward and crushed the lock. Toad pulled it off, wrinkling his nose slightly at the smell from behind the door. It was quite a familiar smell.

"Uh-oh. Close your eyes kids, this isn't going to be good."

"Just get the door open Toynbee." Sabretooth growled.

The door swung open on its own hinges.

Colossus threw up.

* * *

Indio's eyes widened. "Uh, Mr. Gambit. There's someone coming."

The bluebirds and roses disappeared from Gambit's inner thoughts. "What? Who?"

Indio gave a nervous gulp, "Police."

Quickly Gambit jumped behind the door, suddenly alert and wary. "They comin' dis way?"

Indio nodded. "They're here to find out about the FoH."

"Police?" St John looked up hopefully. Gambit reached in through the open window and pushed him down again.

"Keep down."

"But…but police can help us."

"They never help us." Indio said, unconsciously echoing thoughts that had been repeated around him, too many times.

"Mos'ly bad news kid."

St John frowned, tired and confused. Indio also frowned, unsure about the thoughts he was hearing. "I think they're here to help mutants. Well some of them are. And some of them are trying to think they are. Some just think it's a waste of time. One of them is angry."

"Woah wait a bit, how may are dere?"

"Uh…" Indio concentrated, "Ten? More than ten. Bout…thirty. It's kind of hard to tell. They're all thinking and they've…um…they've just seen the helicopter…"

Gambit swore and stood up. _If dere gonna see us, they're not gonna see us hiding behin' a car. _"Come on out den, no point hidin' now."

Cautiously Indio pulled himself out of the car, followed by St John, who was still slightly baffled as to why they had been hiding in the first place. There were police, armed and talking frantically into little intercoms. They'd been heading slightly to the west, but changed course when they saw Gambit pop up from behind the car.

Indio gave a small squeak and took a step backwards, trying to hide himself in the trench coat.

"Tell me what dere t'inking." Gambit hissed at him and then gave a wide smile to the approaching officers, "Afternoon."

The man in front stopped, noticing Remy's eyes. "Are, are you a mutant." _God damn muties, always in trouble. Hey, is that a kid? Looks kinda scared. OK, keep focused, focussed on the job. _"Uh, we heard that there was some kind of trouble. Kidnapping. From an anti-mutant organisation known as the, the Friends of Humanity."

Remy nodded. "So youse not here to kill mutants?"

"No."

Indio nodded. The mans thoughts were confused, but safe enough. "They're in there."

"Careful." Gambit called after them as they inched carefully towards the door in the hillside, "There's some of ours in dere."

"Don't worry, we won't hurt them."

Indio gave a small giggle at Gambits thought. _I know you won' homme. What you got to be careful 'bout is whether they hurt you._

* * *

Sometimes actions work like waves. Small ripples that build and build, flickering across the water. A wind that sweeps up, a sudden rush of undercurrent flooding through the sea, faster and faster building stronger and stronger until a sudden, unexplainable _shallowness_, a shore, where the sky meets the sand and the sea.

The power has to go somewhere, so it builds up and up to towering heights, a block of water rising, rising, shadows across a beach, the sun flickering.

And then it breaks. The power built up over the miles crashes down to flatten anything beneath, _everything_ beneath. Then the panic starts, the wash of water, the smashing of rubble (even though by this time the sea is quiet and deceptively peaceful, even though by now, when the sirens are wailing and the people are screaming, the ripples are only a distant memory).

There had been a ripple, Wolverine knew, when he'd stood in a damp stone cell and seen a young man sleeping on the floor, curled up in the fetal position with scars on his back. It had been a ripple when Indio broke into his head, smashing past the blocks in his mind and releasing his history. Simmet had been a ripple too, a strange name that seemed oddly familiar.

When he walked out of the hillside, with Sabretooth behind him and the broken body of a young mutant girl in his arms, he knew that the ripple-time was long since past. As the police moved in to do their job, as the cameras descended with unerring accuracy to broadcast the girls face across the globe he knew then that a far bigger force was building up.

They'd hated mutants, not with a fierce angry hate, but with a twitching of lace curtains and disapproving stares. They'd sent them to Xaviers school, not because they cared but because it allowed them to forget. They'd never expressed violence, never said they wanted it, but they were about to find out what happened if you never tried to stop it either.

The flash of camera bulbs made him wince. The girl in his arms stirred feebly, and he wondered how to explain to her that she would probably never be able to walk again. Toad walked out behind him, another body in his arms, and Wolverine knew, he _knew_ that his was a far bigger power than any senator, than any mutant.

Something was going to break.

* * *

A/N: yay for pretentious metaphors :D The title makes me _cringe_.

I am going to miss Indio :( And Scott I think (he's not in what I plan to write next). Ghod Hank is being a pain to write, he's turning into Gandalf…


	42. And Last

Disclaimer: All open source, none of this belongs to me, I make no money.

A/N: I was very _very_ tempted not to make this the last chapter, and instead to keep going with the story for a bit longer (because I've been on a roll with this one lately). But…well…better to go out when I'm enjoying it than to trail it off hastily when I get fed up with it.

Thank you all for reading. It's been a hell of a ride.

And Last

News spread quickly flying along wires and glass, through the world wide grapevine, across the screens, the image carried everywhere. There were lots of pictures and even more opinions but the main one was of Logan with the body of a broken girl in his arms.

With the news spread the outrage. Because nothing gets people more outraged than the realisation that they, unwittingly and unknowingly, have been supporting something Wrong. Feeling outrage was better than feeling guilty. Bobby's mum phoned the school, as did Warren's father. The X-mansion was ringing with the calls of worried parents, some of whom had not been in contact with their children since they'd bundled them off into Xavier's care.

The news crashed against the stone walls of the Whitehouse, causing, among other things, the need to find someone to blame. Such an act, such an atrocity, would be easier to pin on a single figure, for negligence if nothing else. How could you turn and blame the people? How could you tell them that it was their fault, for not asking what was happening, for turning a blind eye to the things they half-knew were going on? For pretending that all was fine while, in their deepest hearts, just feeling relieved that whatever problems were out there were not happening to them.

Despite his occasional blustering Senator Lewison was not a stupid man. He could read the political temperature as well as anyone. He wrote his resignation letter without even being asked.

* * *

Scott stared at the television as Wolverine's face flashed onto it for at least the sixth time. "So, that's it then?"

"That's certainly the end of the Friends of Humanity." Hank observed. "Well, probably not, but certainly the beginning of the end."

Scott smiled for the first time in a while. "A lot of the parents have been getting in touch. Some of them want to take their children back, try and get them enrolled in proper schools. They don't think it's safe here. And really…I think that's probably a good thing."

"People certainly won't get used to the idea of mutants if we keep them shut away here in a school." Hank agreed, wondering just how many times he'd tried to say that to Charles and lost his nerve at the last moment. "Xaviers idea was a good one but…"

"For when he was." Scott finished. "Xavier saw mutants that needed saving, that needed sanctuary. But now I guess the world needs to know they exist."

Next to his elbow, a glass of water started to gently shake.

"Did you know Rogue is planning on leaving?" Scott continued, then noticed that Hank wasn't looking at him, but was staring nervously at the glass.

"Hank? What is it…woah, I think the floor just…shook?"

Dr McCoy knew what it was. And Bobby, who was wrapping up a tearful conversation with his mother, recognised it as well. The ground was shuddering, gently, but it was increasing.

"Hank?"

"Out! Get everybody out!"

* * *

Magneto was the first to see it. Sitting in the garden, staring at the lake and wondering why he'd just allowed his son to be taken to prison. The lake rippled, without wind, and he looked up confused, squinting into the light.

In the distance he could see it, a small cloud of dust that, somehow, seemed to be getting closer. It took a while for his brain to register, but finally he realised what it was.

A criminal; that was what Quicksilver had said. The Juggernaut had been locked up for being a criminal and Magneto had rescued him for being a mutant. That wasn't how it was meant to be, surely. If anything it was the other way around, those like Toad who'd been persecuted for being mutants and he'd rescued to turn into criminals.

"So who won, Charles?" He whispered at the air, "Who won, you or me?"

Wait…that wasn't right either. He wasn't fighting _against _Charles he was … wait."

Behind him, students streamed out of the school in a panic. In front of him, the Juggernaut got closer and closer. He wasn't changing direction and Magneto knew that by now it was too late. Nothing could stop the Juggernaut, even under his own power it would take the man at least half an hour to slow down.

Slowly, Magneto stood up and shuffled towards the door, pushing past the children who were leaving. It had been their school, him and Charles together, and they'd built it in memory of the other two, of Sundance and Auroch. There had been four of them…

"And then there was one." He murmured, standing in front of the door. Juggernaut was getting closer, and he was still trying to work out in his head whose victory it was. Him or Charles? Or Them, the humans? Or…

And then he realised that it didn't matter. That it never would matter, that the wonders and atrocities of mankind were nothing but chaff, that time would steamroll past, and on and on and his name, Xavier's name, would be nothing more than a mark on a leaf of paper for schoolchildren to whinge over. There was nothing in life but what you made and suddenly Magneto felt a heartfelt rush of glad relief that he would not have to make any more. That it was over, that things were ending, that in a few moments him, Xavier, the school and all they'd built and made, would be gone.

He smiled.

* * *

It was the oddest funeral that Indio had ever seen. Juggernaut had pretty much flattened the school, which meant that it was taking place in what looked like a badly managed building site. No one was crying, no one seemed particularly upset. There was an air of general sadness, true, but the overall and overwhelming feeling was one of relief.

"He's still out there." Wolverine pointed out, standing near a fallen beam with Indio and Sabretooth.

"Who?" Sabretooth grunted, wondering why Scott had bothered to make such an effort for _Magneto_ of all people.

"Juggernaut."

Sabretooth shrugged, "So's the Hammer-Lady. And Mystique."

Wolverine had a brief vision of Juggernaut vs. Jaycee and grinned. "Ah well."

"Not our problem anymore." Sabretooth downed the fizzy champagne and made a face, "Does Summers have any whisky?"

Wolverine shook his head. Not our problem. Not his problem. School was out, the children were going home and, once again, the world was filled with things that _weren't his problem_.

The relief flooded through him. Shyly, Indio tugged at his coat. "Uh, Logan? What happens now?"

Logan shrugged happily. "No idea kid."

"I mean, what happens to me?"

"Don't worry." Sabretooth said, before Wolverine could get a word in, "You stick with me and Logan. You'll be alright."

* * *

"Uh Bobby?" Warren tried. Bobby was talking to Kitty, fairly animatedly it seemed. "Bobby?"

"What?" He turned around, saw the figures _behind_ Warren and gave a grin of delight, "Mum, Dad … Robbie?"

His brother scowled. Warren looked miserably at the floor.

"Bobby!" His mother hugged him and then whispered, "Don't mind your brother, he's just had a bit of an argument with Dad. He's, well…" Middle class sensibilities vied with her determination to be Tolerant, "Well…you know. Not _straight._"

"Mum!" Bobby looked at her, annoyed.

"But we don't mind!" She said quickly, attempting a smile as her husband looked determinedly at a small pile of rubble, "I mean, it's like your mutant thing. We can work…around it."

Warren looked at Robbie and gave him a small smile. Robbie looked at Warren then glanced at his mother and rolled his eyes.

And Indio, who could see everyone's thoughts, started to giggle.

* * *

St John looked around moodily. Bobby was chatting happily with his parents, Rogue was talking quietly with Gambit, Colossus and Scott were locked in an interesting discussion about mutant protection rights and even Wolverine seemed to have found a friend.

And he was all alone.

He aimed a half-hearted kick at a fallen girder, which achieved nothing beyond hurting his foot and increasing his misery. Poor kid, all alone in the world, everyone else has someone, but no, nobody cares about the boy who has no one.

"Something wrong Fireboy?"

He glared at Toad, who grinned back at him with the look of someone who's happy in the knowledge that they've just snaffled the last can of beer. "Of course something's wrong."

"What?"

"Well…" He paused, wondering how to explain it. The closest way to describe his feelings at the moment was probably betrayal. He'd followed Xavier, and had been let down (left in the snow, with nowhere to go) so he'd changed to Magneto and, once again, had been left all alone. "I, I don't know what to do."

Toad shrugged and downed the beer, "Life's tough like that."

"But I have nowhere to go!" Pyro wailed, "I don't own a thing, and I _don't know what to do_."

"Hey, easy kid." Toad looked vaguely concerned, "It's gonna be fine. There'll be a job somewhere. Hell, I'm a computer geek with martial arts training; I can get a job anywhere." He ran his tongue over the top of the can, picking up the last drops, "Might even get enough to get you into college or something."

The panic in Pyro subsided. "You, you'll stay with me?"

"Course!" Toad gave him a vague pat on the shoulder, "Us ex-terrorists have to stay together. Besides, we can do what we like now. No one to give us orders any more."

And maybe, Pyro figured, maybe that was the answer. Maybe it wasn't about finding someone to follow, or some cause to hang onto. Maybe life was just about getting through, keeping going and maybe, maybe having some fun along the way.

A mischievous smile flashed across his face. Across the rubble, Wolverine spluttered as his cigar flamed up. "Could we have a barbeque?"

Toad grinned. "Sure thing kid."

* * *

It wasn't happily ever after.

But it was an ending.

* * *

**THE END**

* * *

A/N: To everyone who's followed this story through: thanks for reading and for all your help, support and advice through reviews. It's been a cool journey and do come back and visit my profile every now and again because I will be starting another X-men story at some point.

To everyone who's just read through the entire thing: Wow. I'm impressed you made it to the end! Having read so much do please leave just a short note saying if you enjoyed it, or even just saying hi.

And…that's it I guess. :D


End file.
